Starbound (I can't believe it's not Terraria 2) is coming!

[jakonovski]

Pre-orders are up. I think I'll get one as soon as there's a working client. A 4 pack in fact, could guilt some friends into playing.

http://playstarbound.com/

[K9]

Looks fun, I'll have to check out this out more.

[schild]

I've been watching this for a while. Very, very stoked.

[Fabricated]

Just a reminder that Terraria is literally one of the best examples in gaming history of bad coding and this will likely be no different.

[jakonovski]

Just a reminder that Terraria is literally one of the best examples in gaming history of bad coding and this will likely be no different.

What was so bad about it? The only thing I noticed was that the multiplayer hated my internet connection.

[schild]

Just a reminder that Terraria is literally one of the best examples in gaming history of bad coding and this will likely be no different.

I never had a single problem. So, tell me more about it being one of the best examples while Path of Exile keeps hard crashing my laptop.

[Modern Angel]

I never had a single problem. So, tell me more about it being one of the best examples while Path of Exile keeps hard crashing my laptop.

You see, schild it's because...

[koro]

I really wish people would quit calling this "Terraria 2" or some other variation of a sequel, since it's not. The team - barring a single artist - is completely different.

[jakonovski]

I really wish people would quit calling this "Terraria 2" or some other variation of a sequel, since it's not. The team - barring a single artist - is completely different.

The memetic economy does not support such a high resolution.

[Teleku]

Yeah, Terraria was pretty much flawless.  Not sure what happened to make you think it was bad coding (unless you mean you read the source code itself and hated the way he handled memory management and commenting or something  ).

[Kail]

I can't speak to the program as a whole, but I could never get the multiplayer in that game working, even with the other player in the same room on a LAN with me.

[Fabricated]

i really hope some respectable game dev class somewhere at some point has a 'look at this code, what's wrong with it' assignment with the terraria disassembly

off the top of my head:

- every single block is like 40 bytes, most of which are redundant/unused/condensable to a bitfield
- there are no item prototypes, literally everything is created/specced inplace during the item constructor with a 2000+ line else-if chain
- the entire item initializer is copypasted at least 3 times for functions to 'reset' items and look them up by name and other shit i don't remember
- that one armor set they upgraded? they can't remove it without breaking the game so there's just a weird kludge to 'convert' it in all the item blocks
- there's zero serverside event validation, if your client says something happened the server accepts it (this includes telling the server you dropped 2^31 lit sticks of dynamite)

that was just the stuff i spotted in my 2-hour adventure attempting to add diablo-style item affixes, there's probably a lot more

There is.

It's called setting the 'amount of lava' byte on any nonlava block to a nonzero value because the block instantly turns into invisible lava that can't be removed and does a bunch of weird shit i can't remember

OH I FORGOT

there's a chest index byte on every block that controls what chest the block is a part of since every container in the game is actually part of this giant static array of something like 200 chests. you can use it to teleport stuff around by setting all your chest values to the same thing (this is what the secret stash thing does) or instantly crash any server by setting it to something >200 because what is exception handling???

i also remember the savefiles being some horrifying trainwreck but i can't remember how

every item is an Item and so every item has somewhere like 70 public properties, most of which are completely irrelevant

what type of armor is this plank
can i consume this sword
how much ammo does this potion have

also
public bool noWet;
public bool wet;
have fun figuring that out shithead

also the classes were so large they'd crash dotpeek with an OOM. also go find a copy of Item.cs or WorldGen.cs and read it

oh right, worldgen.cs

that thing is really goddamn nasty and i'm not sure how to explain it other than to say that it's like a fractal of if-else chains doing simple assignments

their algorithm to figure out what tile to use for a solid based on surrounding tiles is really fucking funny too because you can sensibly do it in like 30 lines if you know how bitshifts work. but nope it's many many pages

*mashes blocks together in b/w, scowling* there's got to be a better way

[schild]

Inefficient, futzy, poorly planned code did not for a bad experience make.

[Samwise]

Yeah, I have little patience for sloppily written code if I'm the one who has to maintain it, but at the end of the day, as long as it does the thing it's supposed to do, there are many many examples of worse coding out there.

[Mrbloodworth]

A lot of that may have something to do with the platform being Gamemaker Pro.

[Quinton]

I expect there is no shortage of games that are implemented in eye-bleedingly-bad ways.  Luckily as a gamer I can hang up my grouchy software engineering hat, and provided it's fun and doesn't crash, I'm not going to mind how godawful it is under the hood.  Terarria was plenty of fun, solo or with 8+ players on a LAN.  Can't complain. 

[apocrypha]

Terraria was great, great fun to play. I got my money's worth ten times over from that game. If it was badly coded then that's a shame because it makes it harder for modders, but it's unlikely to impact my purchase-or-not decision.

However, I've decided that I'm mostly not doing pay-to-beta any more. I've remembered that I like waiting for games, that the anticipation is part of the enjoyment, and that I also hate playing buggy shit. So I'll at least wait for it to be non-beta buggy shit .

[kildorn]

A) Do want Starbound. Looks like a lot of fun.

B) As much as that code is terrible, it still winds up doing it's job without much of a problem. Bitch and a half to upgrade or modify, but it's probably the least crashy/glitchy thing I've played in forever.

[apocrypha]

Oh bollocks, broke my own rule already, this looks too awesome. Plumped for the basic $15 pre-order.

[schild]

I'm waiting for someone to get together on one of the 4 packs or something. Also, I'm in no rush, who knows when this will be playable.

[Teleku]

I'm down for a four pack.  Loved the first one.

[Sky]

I loved a lot about Terraria and definitely got my money's worth, but I did remember how much I dislike side-scrolling games. So cautiously on the sidelines. Less game in Terraria and more building and it would've suited me I think.

Really just ready for the next minecraft...

[Ingmar]

I loved a lot about Terraria and definitely got my money's worth, but I did remember how much I dislike side-scrolling games. So cautiously on the sidelines. Less game in Terraria and more building and it would've suited me I think.

Really just ready for the next minecraft...

Yeah, the perspective basically ruined it for me. I think I lasted about an hour before I said fuck it and went back to Minecraft.

[Pezzle]

Oddly, the perspective is what sold my local gaming group.  We had all played minecraft and did not have as much multiplayer fun as Terraria offered.  This is already our own server and 8 purchases.

[Ruvaldt]

I'm all over a four pack.

[Sky]

Yeah, the perspective basically ruined it for me. I think I lasted about an hour before I said fuck it and went back to Minecraft.

I got something over 40 hours, so as I said, no complaints, really. When I started hitting a few of the boss mobs it went south quick, though because it really underscored that side-scroller gameplay.

[schild]

I will likely run an f13 server for this btw. Actually, for sure. I fucking loved Terraria. I'll buy it when I have money. Should do an f13 kickstarter for $2k to put an f13 statue in the game (of HST, obv). Bat country, whatnot.

[rk47]

How many players per server?

[schild]

over 9000

[Yegolev]

[jakonovski]

Thought this was worthy of dredging the thread back up: a lengthy gameplay video from some event or another.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/30/the-next-hour-is-starbound-hour/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTqsIwd4EFU#t=856

[Morfiend]

Thought this was worthy of dredging the thread back up...

Thanks, I almost missed this thread. I'm super excited. I played the shit out of Terraria.

[Reborne]

Watching that video has confirmed all the hope that I've been holding out for this game.

Though on a personal level it was painful to watch at times.
I was telling a friend things that were about to happen and laughing when I was right just because they play like a bunch of my friends.
This is not a compliment 

Going to be so much fun 

[Sky]

They've been talking about beta phases and a dedication to releasing phase 1 in 2013, along with one of the better 'development delays are good' posts I've seen. Not sure if they're planning on bumping up the price after beta opens, something to think aboot.

http://playstarbound.com/how-the-beta-is-going-to-work/

[Bann]

Beta arrives on Wednesday, Dec 4.

http://playstarbound.com/december-4th/


FAQ on beta