Hi there guys,

Just a quick update to show you what we’re working on. We’re also looking for some feedback on this. So feel free to comment and tell us what you like and dislike about it.

Right now we’re working on biomes, in particular we’re sinking a lot of time into the forest biome.

Each biome will be different per planet, so a forest on one planet may look entirely different from a forest on another. It’ll contain different spawns, different loot, different terrain, ores, you name it.

Here are a few work in progress shots. They show three forests, all on the same terrain type, on different planets.

As explained these are work in progress shots, the procedurally generated plants aren’t in yet (the small ones), and in the first two shots the pine trees in the background are placeholders. In the final version the background trees will match the trees in the foreground, as with the final screenshot. Also in general as we add more content everything will become more varied.

Some questions for you.

Do you like what you see? Is it pretty?

Is there enough variety from planet to planet?

Do the forests feel cohesive in design?

Give us your feedback and we’ll take it on board :)

Hopefully we’ll get a video out to you this weekend or shortly after showing some more of this stuff off.

It’s been a long and hard road, but after spending days examining all the wonderful entries, the dev team have finally settled on a winner.
We’d like to congratulate TomServo for his awesome creature, the Poptop.  A mysterious creature that hides its true form behind a cute illusion.

We were really impressed both with TomServo’s concept and presentation, many of the team were desperate to catch a Poptop to keep as a pet!

We think the Poptop will fit perfectly into Starbound and we plan to implement both the young and adult versions of the Poptop.

One of the things we wanted to do with Starbound was give the combat a lot of depth and flow. We’re aiming to rival the depth of combat you’re used to seeing in huge modern RPGs like Skyrim or Amalur.

Weapons in Starbound can be placed in either the left or right hand (which correspond with the left and right mouse button). Some weapons are two handed, others (like shields) are one handed. Picking two weapons or tools that compliment each other is a big part of being combat effective. Will you choose two daggers? A sword and a shield? An axe and a gun? It’s up to you.

The combat system in Starbound spans many different tools and weapons, far too many to mention in a single post. So I thought I’d start with one we haven’t really discussed yet. And that’s shields.

Touching (most) enemies in Starbound won’t damage the player directly, instead enemies must go through an attack animation to damage the player. This opens up the gameplay massively to blocking and counter attacks. And that’s where shields come in.

Once equipped to the left or right hand, shields are brought out by holding the corresponding mouse button. If the player is attacked during this period they take a small percentage (depending on the level of the shield) of regular damage that’s applied to the players health bar as white “recoverable” health.

Once combat is over this health will regenerate, however if the player is hit they’ll lose all of their white health. If the player strikes an enemy shortly after blocking an attack the player gets a “counter attack” which is a guaranteed critical hit. We’re experimenting with increasing the counter attack damage further based on the amount of white health the player currently has. Block many attacks and your next counter attack will be devastating.. but slip up and lose it all. Major risk/reward gameplay.

On top of all of this, it won’t just be you making use of shields. Humanoid enemies will use them too and some creatures may have natural shields.

More on combat later!

Let me know what you think