[Work-in-progress]

About

Starbound^[1] is an action-adventure sci-fi game made by an independent game studio Chucklefish with a pixelated artstyle similar to it's rival game Terraria. The game takes place in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated universe which the player is able to explore in order to obtain new weapons, armor, and miscellaneous items. The player can choose to seven different races with different features and cosmetics, such as armor and a starter spacecraft.

Origin

Starbound was formally announced by Tiyuri in February 2012, with a tiered, Kickstarter-style, pre-order opening via the "Humble Store":m/memes/sites/humble-bundle on April 13, 2013. Tier options included a copy of the game, an invite to the beta, and a download of the game's soundtrack, as well as game-related "rewards", such as naming an in-game NPC, designing a hat or weapon, and having a statue of oneself designed to be placed in the game. Within 24 hours of the pre-order opening, over 10,000 people backed the game, contributing over $230,000 to fund the game's development.

By April 29, 2013, the Starbound pre-order had reached all three of its stretch goals by raising over $1,000,000. The game entered its initial stage of beta and was released on Steam on December 4, 2013, receiving over $2,000,000 in pre-orders prior to its launch.

In July 22, 2016, Starbound was released as an early access and is also in-development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.

Playable Races

Apex are ape-like creatures with naturally humanoid features. Due to a process that Apex researchers discovered, they are able to upgrade their intellectual state while degrading their physical state. There is much dissent among them, as individuals chosen for researching a better process never return.

Avians are bird-like creatures without wings. They believe that their wings were lost upon entrance into the mortal world from the "Aether", or their "Plane of Gods". They believe that they will regain their wings upon entrance into the "Aether", which they believe is achieved only by complete theological devotion. Non-worshipers are called "The Grounded".

Florans are carnivorous plant creatures. They have a peaceful appearance but are highly violent, engaging in wars with other factions of their race. At one point, they managed to conquer another race's world. They are exceptional at reverse engineering technology. It is not known if this capability has an effect on gameplay.

Humans are ordinary Humans. In time, Humans on Earth grew to create a single Human empire. Humans gained the ability of complete space travel at one point. Earth was a place of peace and enlightenment for many years. However, a meteor containing a hostile tentacle alien race had crash-landed on Earth. It grew to the point of destroying Earth's cities, and scattered the Human race into the universe.

Hylotl are an amphibious species. They are the most docile race after living under the sea for many years, eventually developing empathy toward all living races. Their strong obsession with beauty seems to be their driving notion. With their empathy for all living creatures, the Hylotl send out members of their race as missionaries to spread peace. The Hylotl were eventually driven off-world by the Florans. Although they are docile, they are very proficient in the use of weaponry. Hylotl culture appears to resemble that of feudal Japan.

Glitch are robotic creatures with their mindsets stuck in the Medieval Age. The Glitch were created by an unknown race, and they are controlled by a single hivemind; their entire purpose is to build, expand, and evolve. Inevitably, they learned that they are artificial constructs when they deconstructed themselves, realizing that their inside contents were nothing more than mechanical parts. Their understanding of the world leads them to realize that artificial things have a creator. This gave them the ability of self-awareness; some Glitch accept their role as workers while others pursue the truth.

Novakid are beings made out of solar energy. As the Novakids have little to no desire to record their history, little is known about their origins and any groundbreaking research is forgotten within a few generations. This race was announced when the pre-order campaign raised $500,000, and was planned to be added after the full release, but ended up being added in the later beta update, v. Upbeat Giraffe.

Search Interest

External Links