Indie Chucklefish has revealed their overall development road map for Starbound, which includes better progression, a pixel economy, end game PvP, and admin ‘Director Mode’ to spawn challenges.
However the studio also reveals plans to create a second game. They haven’t quite settle on what it is yet but it could be a ”top down, open world, multiplayer pirate game.”
Chucklefish is currently hiring new staff as this second project would be handled by an all-new team, as Starbound still has a lot more to be fleshed out.
This meaty update from the Starbound team doesn’t include smaller updates like starship upgrades and the like, just the overall big ideas in motion. For example, the current player progression system is a temporary one as they plan for it to have much more structure. Missions and pixels are the key.
”Play through tier 1 and gain enough pixels too.. > access the tier 1 mission > fight tier 1 boss > gain oxygen tank tech > now able to access tier 2 planets with non breathable atmosphere,” blogged Chucklefish, as an example.
If you’ve been playing Starbound then you know that pixels are the in-game currency and they’re quite a pain to grind for, especially when you’re hit with the eye-watering ‘death tax’. The team don’t intend for it to remain as it is though, because pixels can quite literally be farmed. You don’t have to always kill monsters for pixels, but can take up agricultural as an alternative, or just go adventuring for missions that give pay outs.
”The farming feature will be fleshed out enough for that to be your means of pixel gathering. On the other hand, if you prefer to be an adventurer, taking quests and gaining pixels as rewards. That route is just as good. Perhaps you prefer to be a builder, charging npcs rent based on the quality of the homes they inhabit. A pirate, robbing towns and ransacking villages. A tomb raider, gathering rare artifacts.”
The end game is also being worked on which will take place in ‘Sector X’ and is also the PvP portion of the game where organisations can be formed and mighty battles fought. Although you can always just stick to the more challenging quests and monsters in your group’s space station.
Check out the full blog post from Chucklefish on the future of Starbound and their studio, where they also discuss mod support and an admin-controlled Director Mode.
