10th March – Is this the rail life?

Hello everyone! I dunno how it could possibly be Thursday already, but here we are. Let’s talk about rails!

The rail system is something Metadept started over the Christmas holiday, and we’ve since taken a little bit of time to polish it up so that it’s ready in time for 1.0. We’ve tried to include the key elements of the Skyrails mod by Apjjm as well as craftable elevators in order to create something that’s more in line with Starbound’s design: general purpose, flexible and creative!

The core of the system are rail materials, which are non-colliding blocks that players place in the world. These materials will automatically connect to each other and to adjacent rail objects, so it should be easy to create anything from simple elevators to large rail networks!

Players can currently make use of the rails in two different ways: by placing self-propelled moving platforms, or by sliding along rails using a special rail hook item driven by gravity.

In addition to basic rail tiles, there are also several objects to make more complex rail networks possible: a rail bumper that caps rail endpoints and sends riders back in the opposite direction, a rail stop that stops and starts riders based on a wire input, a rail switch that connects and disconnects rails based on wire input, and a rail sensor that triggers a wire output whenever a rail rider crosses it.

We’d like to expend the system in the future with more types of rails, objects, and things that travel along them!

Let us know what you think in the comments!

7th March – Wild Wild Quest

Happy Monday!

We had a really great time at PC Gamer Weekender this past weekend and got some really great feedback on the latest build of Starbound, including the intro mission! We’re all flying out to San Francisco this weekend for GDC, so we’ve got a whole lot to get done this week. Busy busy times!

We’ve done a bunch of work on quest generation! NPCs on planets will generate quests for you that change based on what exists in that world.

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We’ve also implemented a quest compass to help you better figure out where you’re supposed to go, and a quest tracker so that you can keep track of what you’ve got left to do.

Oh hey look, Tccoxon’s made a nifty video!

What do you think? Post your thoughts here!

2nd March – Moth Friends

We’ve recently added a bunch of interesting crafting recipes, like these Moth Traps. If you lure moths into your Moth Trap, they will become your best friend and produce lots and lots of silk for you. Use moth silk to make clothing and armor! Moth friends are the best!

Post your comments here!