Starmade Development Plans

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    It seems the community has kind of gotten lost the last few day on where Star made is in development. people are asking questions now that have already been answered. like what does Star made need? the answers are many, and all are as vague as psychiatric Moral evaluation exam.

    So rather than asking the what we already know, lets ask the right one, how does it get done?

    People hate it when a Mine Craft reference to Star Made is done, well, its the best analog period and when asked, they say, "its a MineCraft meets EVE clone of the two games." lets face it this is also usually followed by this being the closest analogy for the game.

    anyway moving forward, lets look back a little bit. when the MineCraft developer known as notch the guy that imagined the damn thing up in the first place, was getting ready to retire, he posted the following in his development blog.

    "When I developed MineCraft for the first time, I never really thought of what it mite eventually turn into. it eventually grew so fast I didn't have time to even make any plans. so now as i stand ready to retire I think its time I actually looked back and really analyze how it grew so fast."

    well, while he also does go onto describe in depth exactly how MineCraft Evolved. ill choose to summarize it with fewer words. what Notch says, is that there was no predetermined plan of MineCraft, It evolved entirely on its own. and that is exactly how StarMade is now doing. it is Evolving, so if one knows the concept of Evolution it has a set logic pattern it follows. such was true with MineCraft, and thus so it also true with StarMade.

    so in summery of minecraft first there was crafting, well Starmade has this now, it started with materials and block harvesting. and this grew into other forms of building in MineCraft this started out as Houses, and got improved when they introduced a thing they called Red Stone. With Starmade we got the New Rails & logic system which is in a way comparable towards the Red Stone.

    Then there were mobs, yup were going way early alpha. When they added the mobs something else evolved, the concept of farming. they didn't just add in new monsters to the game, they changed the way plants would interact and GROW as a result of the new simulated life. If you played way back during this period, Notch describes it was very pointless at first, as the new mobs simply spawned into the world, and did nothing to or with the player. until he gave them a new AI code to be one of three states towards the player. and thus the game evolved into the setting it now ever grows into. This also meant a complete change to the games loot dropping system as well. but all that is also lengthy and takes forever to explain.

    So this is where Starmade now sits with the Evolution chain. the game feels empty and cold cause it needs LIFE to populate it with new tasks to actually do. So it was also recently revealed that the Scine team is also working on adding Fauna to the game. So Even though that the Flora already exists in spite form. may I also suggest as was the case of minecraft, we now take a look at them as well. it added the farming aspect to MineCraft, because it not only added in the food farming, but the need to eat it as well. that's right the update during the mob development known as the Hunger update.

    This is what StarMade Also really needs. but as with another developing game I also have recently discovered, there is a twist which Starmade also needs. that is the three states of interaction like Mobs in MineCraft had. we already have these in the forms of NPC factions, and it works fine, but unlike MineCraft, that needs to apply to the needs as well. And that is exactly what that other game has.

    they have a food meter like MineCraft, but they also added a water, and an oxygen one as well. and this game takes place in giant SubNautical setting, which you mite ask why does this apply to StarMade? well it forces you to try to survive and live in a giant ocean, which as it turns out is exactly what its like trying to live and survive in space.

    Sometimes you can get stuck where you cant get to the surface and breathe. So you can lose oxygen and die. in starmade, this is currently not the case, because the ability to detect oxygenated environments is not definable because space is not generally breathable, thus where is Safe is drastically reduced than it is with the Ocean. but ill get on with how this too can still be achieved with StarMade in a moment.

    Well this is easier in the SubNautica game cause in the majority of cases you can always get to the surface, and replenish your air supply. But there are some times you will want to build places of safety away from the surface. this means build bases or subs to extend your reach farther and farther from the starting point. so there is a clear Progression GOAL for the rest of the game to build upon. And that is currently what StarMade is really Lacking.

    So now its time to get to the point of how to make Oxygen actually work in StarMade. well in the game SubNautica the Oxygen, works in a much simpler Code method than what you may actually seem to experience in the actual game. See the Oxygen Code of SubNautica is all Stacked Upon one base Code. this code is the guiding one for all the factors they then wanted to happen when that code was interacted with. and this code, is called the DEPTH code by its development team. this simply is the point from which the player is located in the world setting. now what happens is that when on the surface it detects the player is in Oxygen state, so it refills their Oxygen. when they go below the water line which is the detection point. it then apples the other states based upon the depth they are from that plane.

    OK so safe point is the surface, So, in StarMade this can be set on planets surface because the game already sets a detection point for rendering the atmosphere for the player when they go there anyway. so the the atmosphere can be our base refill zone. and a depth state can now be applied, to the coordinates based upon this bit of code.

    OK well this makes another problem right?
    Because the default starting point is the dead middle of space. where the supposed lethal zone would be right? well SubNautica also presents another solution as well by its other mechanic, the structure depth state. this is how you can be beneath the surface, in your base or submarine, and still breathe. inside the sub even though in it is always a set shape and configuration, your base on the other hand is static and can be rearranged and changed. so they needed this to also apply to them both without being a defined shape. so what they did was set the detection line as the outer walls of the structure. they did this by applying it to the wall plates which are made of Voxels, so they set the safe zones inside any of the desired shapes, without detecting the entire space's actual volume. So long as their Voxels remain in an intact and undamaged state. So if StarMade applies this to all hull types, this will have the same effect as well.

    but this is a theory and personal opinion on how it could be in fact done. it doesn't mean it will happen or could happen.
     
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    what Notch says, is that there was no predetermined plan of MineCraft, It evolved entirely on its own. and that is exactly how StarMade is now doing.
    This is just blatantly false, dude. Schine has had concrete development plans for the game for a long time. Especially so when there was a drought of updates because Schema wanted to get the foundation of the game ironed out. That recent dev blog even claims that rails were in concept planning around 2014.

    Minecraft to Starmade analogies aren't always bad, but comparing the creators, (and this isn't dev worship) their philosophies, and attitudes to creating their games are almost polar opposite. Notch would just add shit in at a whim at the beta stage and leave it half finished while Schema is focusing on scalability and (most of) one feature at a time.

    I'm not going to go quoting from the massive wall of text, but just adding more survival features and a "goal" isn't going to magically make the game better. Sandbox "goals" are often halfassed and once reached (like Minecraft's End or whatever it's called) you're just back at step one. I'm convinced more PvP (better faction mechanics, HP system, and better balance) and useful features like shipyard mechanics will make the game more rich as the players make the goals. More PvE stuff will just be icing on the cake, but ultimately will not provide the most to players. Quests and procedural quests will only go so far.
     
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    Adding a goal to a sandbox game is easily the worst single thing you can do to it, for one reason: it ceases to be a sandbox game at that point. Look at Minecraft. It was an enjoyable survival sandbox, and then they added a (completely pointless) ending to it. Like seriously. Why?
     
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    Notch would just add shit in at a whim at the beta stage and leave it half finished
    Heh, not like schema would ever do THAT! Like with weapons... or FTL...

    just kidding pls no ban


    OP, there's a roadmap coming soon, Schine's been filling it in.
     

    Keptick

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    Just because it's not publicly available doesn't mean that there's no roadmap :p

    I'd say that the current development stage is based around essential ship and building mechanics, which are the very base of the game and influence everything else. A quest system with NPC interaction and all the shinies is planned, it's just not that development stage yet. That's because, unlike Minecraft, the Devs don't just toss in a bunch of buggy half-assed unfinished features in no particular order just because someone says "WE NEED THIS!".

    Of course we need this, but we truly need everything else just as much. I know that waiting sucks, but there's just no way around it if you want a good polished game in the end. Besides, it's not like gameplay elements are being ignored, the fauna system is being worked on.
     
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    a dynamic procedural quest system, a few more factions, traders that come and buy stuff from (or sell to) your player store, and you are all set.
     
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    Adding a goal to a sandbox game is easily the worst single thing you can do to it, for one reason: it ceases to be a sandbox game at that point. Look at Minecraft. It was an enjoyable survival sandbox, and then they added a (completely pointless) ending to it. Like seriously. Why?
    I respect that you have an opinion, and kindly I ask you to return the favor and respect we differ of opinion and agree to disagree. while I do agree with the notion of minecraft having an end was pointless that's not the difference, the difference is goals in a sandbox is workable if done well and as an actual planned point of the game, and I feel scheema can and likely will do so if it still allows the freedom to ignore the parts you personally don't like about them, but others do so let them do so.

    as for the other points I'm not petty, I will admit when I'm wrong and concede that scheema does have a plan. I never said otherwise, Notch did and hes talking about Mine Craft, and that's not my fault, so sorry if that came across that way when I used his blog quote but those are his words not mine. and before you object again the part you quoted was comparing that both games are evolving not that they both don't have plans.
     
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    I don't think an ulitmate goal would be of much benefit aswell. Also, it's not like poeple can't keep themselves entertained. Some servers allready host events and games more or less frequently.

    And all the little that will give the universe some live are allready anounced, though they still need quite some time (sigh...).

    But what i would love to make it into starmade eventually are some mechanics wich would allow for players to create their own missions complete with story line and all. Maybe similar to what spore had (Does anyone else even remember this game?).
    Since SM is a sandbox anyway we might aswell extend this part some more.