Starbound to go proper interplanetary in spacey update

I spend most of my weekend spacing out, so its appropriate that news should reach me that Starbound [official site], a game which has been out since 2013, is seeing quite a big update in the form of some new space-focused features. As well as bringing some new interstellar vehicles to the planet-hopping craft-em-up, the upcoming patch will also be reworking its system of interplanetary travel. To see how that might look in-game, check out the moving picture below.

Game-crafters Chucklefish explained where this was going in a recent post on their development blog. Here's what they had to say.

"Space isn't just about stars and planets, it's about the space between them, so you'll now be able to fly freely around systems and explore all kinds of new locations, from space stations to traveling merchant ships to mysterious derelicts! Systems won't just be static, either — moons orbit planets, planets orbit stars, and rich opportunities come and go, rewarding patient explorers with brand new perils and plunder!"

That feels like a pretty sizeable addition to a game that's already rather big, reinvigorating the sense of galactic exploration. The update will also add mechs which are said to be "your primary tool for exploring hostile new space environments". You'll be upgrading it, equipping it with different types of stuff and, importantly, colouring it in with your own paint job.

There's no word on when the patch will happen but Starbound tends to get a big update every three months or so, and their last big one (adding terraforming and dungeons) was in December. That might mean it shouldn't be too long.