Neocolonialism And Love: Starbound's Latest Update
Added: love
A huge Starbound [official site] update landed last night. It's a stable version, as opposed to the experimental opt-in nightly updates, and adds a host of new features. The most important is a set of systems to allow for the establishment of colonies. Build a house and people will eventually move in - a more luxurious house will attract a better class of resident. Tied into that are improved behaviours for all NPCs, who will now interact with objects and each other. They might warm their hands by a fire or fall in love. Stuff like that. The changelog is here, and there's also a summary in text and video form. The video is below.
There are a few known issues with the update but none of them are game-breaking and, importantly, updating will not wipe your characters or universe. One of the existing issues is delightful.
NPCs occasionally get stuck rotated after getting out of bed, which is hilarious but unintended
I have the Starbound sickness. Everytime I see a video of people playing together, or an update trailer like the one just above, I reinstall the game and expect to have a blast. And then I realise that whether my long-term goal is to build a village or to build the Best Gun In The Galaxy, I'm going to spend the next few hours punching trees. Or, since Starbound is a sci-fi game, laser-punching trees.
Perhaps if I get past that first couple of hours, I'll be whirling around the galaxy, finding dungeons and temples and aliens. And then I'll be able to laser-punch those aliens as well as the trees.
Anyhow. I've reinstalled and I'll have you all know that my favourite part of the trailer was the sunrise at the end. I don't care about punching trees and collecting loot - I just want a treehouse with a view.