SPACE WHALES CONFIRMED!

[Ithirahad]

Not to say how many will make it into the game but we've drafted 40+ unique fauna in detail already.

...I thought there was going to be a procedural system to create all the fauna you want? In this case why would 40 unique "full" mob designs be needed?

 

[Criss]

...I thought there was going to be a procedural system to create all the fauna you want? In this case why would 40 unique "full" mob designs be needed?

With the creation of lore, there also needs to be races/creatures that are not procedurally generated. This also has to do with the process overall. We want to get working creatures in before we started throwing random parts together and consider it a well done project. It was never stated that all fauna would be procedural, just a vast majority.

 

[Ithirahad]

Ah, right... Lore creatures. Duh.

 

[RabidBat]

I advise you read the lengthy response Bench laid out above. Various creatures will be put into the game. Space creatures/monsters are some of them. Space is the primary setting of the game and as such, needs to be filled with things to discover. Planets are not the primary setting of the game, they reside in it. While planetary and astronaut gameplay will find their place, a lot of those mechanics come down to developers, not the 3d or 2d artists, who are free to pursue other areas of gameplay that need their attention.

Find me a single thread on these forums concerning creatures where space whales did not get mentioned. A good chunk of the community wants them. They are awesome and dangerous and who are we to deny the players something they clearly have asked for?

Yeah let us not forget like most games, the majority of community is not on the game they plays forums, they're in the game, and more often than not what the few forum regulars want vs the majority not on the forums is often quite different. Everyone I have spoken to who I know plays starmade when things like whales are mentioned cringes at the idea.
Again this happens quite a lot in games and their forums, developers need to take this into consideration. Seen it with AAA and indie titles, think many devs need to change how they guage the popularity of ideas, forums are as broken a method as many 'surveys', think Valve had the right idea with adding a voting system to their game L4D2 where new ideas were posted on the games launch screen and all players and not a few had input.

People I know tend to play SM in a realsitic fashion, or as realistic as a SciFi game can get. More so BattleStar Galactica/Star Wars than Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy/Doctor Who.

Anyways like any one I am entitled to my opinion and to offer feedback as is anyone. I stand by my goofy as **** vote. And again, a lot more that needs to be worked on in this game be it 3D/2D art, or coding or whatever.

But hey each to their own and again, not everyone sits on forums every day reading every little bit of news and every post.

In the least I hope if they are being added an option to turn off lifeforms in space outside of say aliens on stations or something is added.

 

[Ithirahad]

Schema's been primarily focused on performance and optimizing in the lead up to TwitchCon. Now that it's over we have big plans ahead. Thanks for everyone's keen interest in where we're taking the game, after all you all play the game and only want to see it become better. There's a tendency when a "random feature" like this gets announced that players either love it or hate it, but either way they get vocal and just get focused on purely the new feature, and forget to consider it in not only the context of the game as a whole, but the direction we're taking the game as well. We've said we're planning questing/missions, faction improvements, more things to motivate you to discover and explore; and yet for some reason sometimes people tend to think too small.

Not really Schine's fault, but... Humans are visual creatures. People tend to take things a lot more seriously when they can see them... If people see space whales, they'll think you're still working on space whales and that everything else is still sort of nebulous and maybe-sorta-coming-in-a-few-months-maybe, especially in a smaller-team development cycle where things like delays and schedule changes can happen for all kinds of reasons. Given what's currently being done though, I suppose there weren't exactly a myriad of other options for things to showcase.

(On a sidenote, though, props to Schema for the optimizations that are being written in. An optimization update is a good thing to have right about now; I just hope he can get the shipyard issues (Especially involving block loss) worked out before the update hits. (These bugs may be hard to track down, though; they don't seem to be easily replicatable.)

They've evolved to become phototrophs that are able to survive in the vacuum of space. Their fins and tail absorb the energy from light through illuminated points on both fins and tail, and they can move them to gain better exposure to light sources. This allows them to consume minerals they find while wandering through space, asteroids and the like, and be able to convert them into a form of nourishment. Stored energy can also be discharged through gills behind the space whale's eyes, allowing it to push itself forward, and using the fins they can direct this exhaust to control their direction.​

Aw, I thought the glowy spots were the thrusters,not the gills. I was also vaguely envisioning glowing blue trails behind the whales.

 

[SilverAgeFan]

With the creation of lore, there also needs to be races/creatures that are not procedurally generated. This also has to do with the process overall. We want to get working creatures in before we started throwing random parts together and consider it a well done project. It was never stated that all fauna would be procedural, just a vast majority.

Will there be a .cfg setting to manage the occurrence of space creatures and or specific lore creatures, effectively permitting those that might find any particular lore creature immersion breaking (or at least immersion overwhelming?) to turn off any said creature?

I suppose this won't be possible of lore creatures become a particular source of drops specific to gameplay though...
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People I know tend to play SM in a realsitic fashion, or as realistic as a SciFi game can get. More so BattleStar Galactica/Star Wars than Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy/Doctor Who.

I agree with your overall comment. But your characterization of Star Wars as "realistic SciFi" gave me a chuckle.

I think I'd put Asimov or KS Robinson out there as more solid examples of "realistic." Or if you need cinema, in addition to BSG, consider the Aliens franchise and Gattaca.

For the record, given my druthers, I guess I'd be okay with the VERY rare space whale, IF it was balanced out by other possible interstellar forms of life that were more exotic including "living nebulae" and mysterious cybernetic intelligences akin to V'Ger. But take it with a grain of salt, because as you point out, forums tend to be populated by vocal minorities and represent anecdotal opinion rather than accurate datum.

 

[RabidBat]

I agree with your overall comment. But your characterization of Star Wars as "realistic SciFi" gave me a chuckle.

I think I'd put Asimov or KS Robinson out there as more solid examples of "realistic." Or if you need cinema, in addition to BSG, consider the Aliens franchise and Gattaca.

For the record, given my druthers, I guess I'd be okay with the VERY rare space whale, IF it was balanced out by other possible interstellar forms of life that were more exotic including "living nebuli" and mysterious cybernetic intelligences akin to V'Ger. But take it with a grain of salt, because as you point out, forums tend to be populated by vocal minorities and represent anecdotal opinion rather than accurate datum.

haha, yeah, I was just using some stark comparisons, e.g Hitchhikers and Dr Who, have both had space whales and are a little less serious and have weirdness. Where as the others are more about the ships/tech.

Living nebulaes? I duinno about living but I'd love to see some with effects, liek screwing with systems in various ways when youfly through them. XD

 

[Bench]

...I thought there was going to be a procedural system to create all the fauna you want? In this case why would 40 unique "full" mob designs be needed?

40+ unique have been drafted up as options. We'll be integrated in a procedural system of course, as most of the game is procedural, but it might be like differences in a species or group of similar creatures. For example, I wouldn't want whale fins appearing on the quad. Extreme example but highlights that yes there is plans for some procedural aspect to fauna but within a practical sense.

Not really Schine's fault, but... Humans are visual creatures. People tend to take things a lot more seriously when they can see them... If people see space whales, they'll think you're still working on space whales and that everything else is still sort of nebulous and maybe-sorta-coming-in-a-few-months-maybe, especially in a smaller-team development cycle where things like delays and schedule changes can happen for all kinds of reasons. Given what's currently being done though, I suppose there weren't exactly a myriad of other options for things to showcase.

(On a sidenote, though, props to Schema for the optimizations that are being written in. An optimization update is a good thing to have right about now; I just hope he can get the shipyard issues (Especially involving block loss) worked out before the update hits. (These bugs may be hard to track down, though; they don't seem to be easily replicatable.)

Aw, I thought the glowy spots were the thrusters,not the gills. I was also vaguely envisioning glowing blue trails behind the whales.

They can easily be thrusters, and blue trails would be awesome once particle system goes in. I literally just wrote that for those who wanted a "lore" explanation. People will be people.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Yeah I am cool with freaky critters on planets, but animals in space, especially a whale? yeah no thanks. Much rather have working pirate AI, crew AI, trade AI any AI, and gravity etc, maybe some actual gameplay elements myself I have to admit. Sorry just think if this is legit it is goofy as **** and as much a waste a time as changing ore names and block skins because purple. There is honestly many things in this game that should be a priority imho, stupid whales aint one.

I would have you know the TV Show FarScape did quite well with space faring creatures.

 

[hzzzln]

think Valve had the right idea with adding a voting system to their game L4D2 where new ideas were posted on the games launch screen and all players and not a few had input.

This can also horribly backfire: there was a similar vote on Dota 2 content. The players could vote on a hero which would get remodelled. But instead of voting for hero models which actually looked bad, people apparently just voted for a hero they thought was cool, or maybe their favourite hero. In the end, the winning hero didn't really need a remodel, and it just got its textures touched up a little. Valve apologized for the badly executed vote and threw in some other content as consolation. The vocal minority in the forums actually has a pretty good idea of which heroes need a remodel and which don't. The ones they do complain about slowly get remodelled now, without a vote from the majority of players.

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."

I still hope that the devs make fauna behaviour and spawning configurable, so if you don't want space whales in your game, you can just turn them off.

 

[Parameter]

Criss, Bench, I know there's still a lot about fauna you haven't revealed yet, but can you say anything about possible fauna spawns on ships or derelicts?

I've got a project I'm working on for a series of colony-ship-gone-wrong derelicts that would greatly benefit from some fauna. It'd be even better if there might be tools in the future for choosing what fauna spawns where, so I could setup "encounters" for derelict explorers. I'd love for astronauts to be wandering through my hulk and hear the *thonk, thonk, thonk* of something walking through the ductwork...

 

[Sha3es]

Criss, Bench, I know there's still a lot about fauna you haven't revealed yet, but can you say anything about possible fauna spawns on ships or derelicts?

I've got a project I'm working on for a series of colony-ship-gone-wrong derelicts that would greatly benefit from some fauna. It'd be even better if there might be tools in the future for choosing what fauna spawns where, so I could setup "encounters" for derelict explorers. I'd love for astronauts to be wandering through my hulk and hear the *thonk, thonk, thonk* of something walking through the ductwork...

This could open a niche market for hostile entity removal and extermination... Why risk sending in a factions own members when you could pay to have a team of people specialize in doing this.

 

[Ithirahad]

For example, I wouldn't want whale fins appearing on the quad.

This actually sounds good. Like, a space bugturtle. I really want to see this now.

 

[Reilly Reese]

If the fins were properly scaled it would be neat.

 

[Criss]

It should be stated that StarMade is not intended to be a realistic game. You can alter settings to fit your playstyle and achieve a more realistic simulation but that is not the end goal. The end goal is to create a science fiction universe filled with a diverse selection of gameplay mechanics, flora, fuana and factions to interact with. We take inspiration from all past science fiction works.

I know there's still a lot about fauna you haven't revealed yet, but can you say anything about possible fauna spawns on ships or derelicts?

Fauna will spawn on ships just as the quads currently spawn on derelicts. This fauna will likely be NPC faction members at first, but I am sure we all want to see derelict spacecraft so that will surely make its way into the game later on. The ability for a player to spawn creatures is not really something we have looked into. If creatures play any role in future crafting or progression systems there will need to be some balancing to ensure that a player doesn't exploit some sort of animal farm.

 

[Rixxan]

Why not instead of whining about a possible new feature that will /Probably/ be cool and has a lot of potential and can maybe be turned off in your server's config we THANK the Devs and the 3d Artists and EVERYONE involved in the project for what they just gave us, there are different people working on different things and they are all important and doing their part.

THANK YOU DEVS!

(This is about a page or two ago, not about the most recent stuff)

 

[Parameter]

It should be stated that StarMade is not intended to be a realistic game. You can alter settings to fit your playstyle and achieve a more realistic simulation but that is not the end goal. The end goal is to create a science fiction universe filled with a diverse selection of gameplay mechanics, flora, fuana and factions to interact with. We take inspiration from all past science fiction works.



Fauna will spawn on ships just as the quads currently spawn on derelicts. This fauna will likely be NPC faction members at first, but I am sure we all want to see derelict spacecraft so that will surely make its way into the game later on. The ability for a player to spawn creatures is not really something we have looked into. If creatures play any role in future crafting or progression systems there will need to be some balancing to ensure that a player doesn't exploit some sort of animal farm.

Awesome, thanks for the response!

I'm not sure I'd like to be able to spawn fauna/NPCs as a normal part of single player gameplay, but if I'm making set-pieces or "levels" for other astronauts to explore it would be a nice feature. Imagine a player trying to recreate the Alien movie on isolated mining outpost. We can make a station blueprint to spawn, but we can't actually specify that there be an alien on the ship. It would similarly be odd to set up an abandoned derelict that told a story, but then had crew NPCs dynamically spawn on it. Being able to specify NPC spawning in these kinds of cases would allow players to make a lot more interesting and dynamic content for other players to explore.

 

[Rixxan]

^That is an awesome idea. Maybe a logic based thing that can run a command to spawn an alien when player trips a logic signal or such...

 

[jontyfreack]

others see space whales, I see tyranid splinter fleet lore RP space wale thingy opportunity to go with 40k style gamers.
and one thing that starmade does extremely well is blur the line between styles and universes. I mean what other game can you square the UNSC infinity off against a star destroyer, or a completely original design?
anyway space whales YES
mixing styles and universes together with space whale thingys YES

 

[godmars]

Why not instead of whining about a possible new feature that will /Probably/ be cool and has a lot of potential and can maybe be turned off in your server's config we THANK the Devs and the 3d Artists and EVERYONE involved in the project for what they just gave us, there are different people working on different things and they are all important and doing their part.

THANK YOU DEVS!

(This is about a page or two ago, not about the most recent stuff)

i can only guess people mostly assume Schine only works on one thing at a time for some reason so maybe they're thinking, 'why are you doing x when you should do y' and everyone has a different idea of what should take 'priority' first, or whats important. Like, if they did not reveal the space whale and instead it was 'look guys, now we have CHAIRs you SIT in!!', i really wouldn't care, but i'm sure others would be ecstatic for it