Starfield Thread - now with Shattered Space horror expansion

[markec]

How to make a high tech open world game in space with being able to explore nothing but few planets?

This is how I would make it, in a certain part of universe there is a area where wormholes randomly open up and swallows spaceships. To justify why people are using that part of space lets say its a area that is rich with resources and number of ships lost per year is in acceptable number.

Now the ships swallowed are all transported to a far away star system and exit very close a large planet where its gravity pull always crashes them onto the planet. This explains the isolation of the system from lines of communications, crash landed ships are unable to fly and leave the system, escape pods, shuttles, and smaller makeshift ships lack engines for interstellar voyages and can only travel in the system itself.

Large number of ships across of number of years crashing means different human factions with different state of organized society. You can have a dominant bandit faction which controls the planet and is actively preventing anyone making or fixing a ship capable of travel beyond the system or making a powerful enough communication array as they enjoy being the overlords of this place.

The planet itself should be completely handcrafted with different biomes, native alien fauna and maybe even ruins/remains of ancient alien civilizations. You can even put a mystery that the wormholes are made by ancient alien machine programmed to bring ships to a planet and the part of the main quest revolves about finding out why.

Planets, moons, asteroids in the system are not fit for human life but are rich in valuable resources so places to build mines, outposts, slave workcamps etc.

You have a single large handcrafted planet, multiple smaller generic ones, multiple human factions, dangerous alien creatures, space combat vs bandits in makeshift ships.

 

[Rhobar121]

How to make a high tech open world game in space with being able to explore nothing but few planets?

Why not? If the planet is just empty barren rock why would anyone land there?

The game would be better if they removed most of the content from the game. What the hell does anyone care about 1000 shitty and almost identical planets?
Make 10 planets and they will be enough.

Starfield would have been better if there had been only been a dozen or so inhabitable planets, in the sense of having gravity, atmospheric pressure, atmospheric composition, water, and radiation within acceptable limits for human survival, but each of these planets had been an Open World environment in the style of Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. Meaning largely hand-crafted material with only procedural assistance for vegetation and so forth, and the actual content would similarly be hand-crafted. Rather than attempt to replicate the actual size of the planets, each Open World environment would be similar in size to those earlier games, representing a much larger area. It wouldn't have been feasible for the amount of content in each of these planets to be equivalent to those earlier games, but instead each planet would be much less dense in terms of content than the fantasy worlds which tend to be crammed with dungeons. This would work quite well with a 'theme park' approach, since this would allow Bethesda to draw on existing Science Fiction inspirations for an ice planet, a desert planet, a cowboy planet with the environment of the American southwest, a planet with insectoid fauna similar to Morrowind, a Cyberpunk planet, and so forth; each of them would have some noticeable environmental variation, similar to Morrowind or Skyrim, but it wouldn't be realistic in terms of depicting an entire planet. The fauna and flora would match the theme, and the human inhabitants would also be thematic, to some extent, so that instead of having a completely random selection of individuals in every world, there would be realistic clusters of national origin.

Procedurally-generated barren planets would still be present for players who wanted to engage in the outpost building, resource collection segment of gameplay, but this would remain purely optional, aside from their use in certain quests that probably shouldn't occur on the inhabitable worlds, such as the main quest artifact collection and temple power acquisition.

It wouldn't even have to be inhabited by humans. Even a moon-like planet could be interesting to explore if done right. Of course then they would have to throw away their shitty procedurally generated content.

 

[Yosharian]

Guys don't worry modders will fix it, give it a year and they'll have populated all 1000 planets with something interesting

Then in a few years we'll all buy ES6 and the whole cycle will begin again

 

[markec]

How to make a high tech open world game in space with being able to explore nothing but few planets?

Why not? If the planet is just empty barren rock why would anyone land there?

Because if you make game with limited scope you have more resources to flesh out your content. If you want to have a choice between countless same looking empty planets or few detailed ones I choose the latter.

 

[Quillon]

It's just so... boring. Maybe the NASA "punk" really does it for some people but for me there were no hooks in the first couple hours that made me want to put up with all the loading transitions and clunky UI navigation and Fallout 4 gunplay (again). I'm sure there's some real world scientific explanation why New Atlantis looks like chlorine covered shit but it just lacks any sort of wow factor and the creepy characterless bug eyed npcs didn't help either. I threw in the towel when one of the NPCs wanted me to fetch their coffee.

at least that coffee was 1 loading screen away and early in the game, I quit when some chick at a space station wanted drink from the bar on mars

its incredible this turned out more boring than the boring af TOW

 

[Yosharian]

its incredible this turned out more boring than the boring af TOW

Alright calm down its not that bad

 

[Rhobar121]

its incredible this turned out more boring than the boring af TOW

Alright calm down its not that bad

TOW is several times shorter than SF so short shitty game > long shitty game.

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

It's just so... boring. Maybe the NASA "punk" really does it for some people but for me there were no hooks in the first couple hours that made me want to put up with all the loading transitions and clunky UI navigation and Fallout 4 gunplay (again). I'm sure there's some real world scientific explanation why New Atlantis looks like chlorine covered shit but it just lacks any sort of wow factor and the creepy characterless bug eyed npcs didn't help either. I threw in the towel when one of the NPCs wanted me to fetch their coffee.

you are boring

Reminder that every two of these sandwiches has more polygons than what in 2001 was deemed the highest polygon count model ever included in a video game (and the game had to cheat and only render parts of the model at a time).

It's part of the reason why the game runs like shit as well.

Time to get a real computer, bro.

Todd: the game is optimized you need a better computer!

 

[Vic]

how many Starfield potatoes can your potato PC render nigga

 

[mediocrepoet]

how many Starfield potatoes can your potato PC render nigga

 

[The Jester]

Inclusive Kosher Character Creator for The Jewish People​

Mazal Tov! This mod ensure the character creator stays true to the tenants of the Torah. All pronoun options have been removed. אני מאחל לך כל טוב
I ask that you please respect the beliefs and traditions of Judaism especially given our rough history. All we ask is that you allow us to have this mod so that we may continue to have a space that we can game and abide by our religion

אני מאחל לך כל טוב

Edit : Unfortunately the anti-sematic white supremacist neo Nazi site known as Nexus Mods removed it.

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

how many Starfield potatoes can your potato PC render nigga

Got a beefy pc so i never run in stuttering in the game and i play it in 4k

 

[Dadd]

how many Starfield potatoes can your potato PC render nigga

Got a beefy pc so i never run in stuttering in the game and i play it in 4k

Sad that you can't see your spelling errors in 4k

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

Inclusive Kosher Character Creator for The Jewish People​

Mazal Tov! This mod ensure the character creator stays true to the tenants of the Torah. All pronoun options have been removed. אני מאחל לך כל טוב
I ask that you please respect the beliefs and traditions of Judaism especially given our rough history. All we ask is that you allow us to have this mod so that we may continue to have a space that we can game and abide by our religion

אני מאחל לך כל טוב

Edit : Unfortunately the anti-sematic white supremacist neo Nazi site known as Nexus Mods removed it.

Upload it again with a quote from the Quran so they can be Islamophobic too.

 

[Bigfass]

in a few years we'll all buy ES6

Not in this decade though.

There's no way Microsoft hadn't made Todd sign up for one more release before they let him retire and enjoy his dragon hoard. So unless he gets fired (which might happen, not likely though), ES6 will take 10 years and somehow end up worse than Starfield.

at least that coffee was 1 loading screen away and early in the game, I quit when some chick at a space station wanted drink from the bar on mars

That's the thing about this game though: everything is always a loading screen or two away. Getting that drink would have meant the following:

- Without taking a step from the questgiver, fast travel to Cydonia; 1 loading screen
- Walk 20 meters, enter base; 2 loading screens
- Walk 10 meters to bar, get drink, fast travel to space station orbit; 3 loading screens
- "Pilot" spaceship forward for 5 seconds, docking cutscene
- Enter space station from the comfort of your pilot's chair; 4 loading screens
- Run to questgiver, turn in quest, enjoy a job well done.

I mean it's a very obvious fetch quest, but as with fetch quests in Bethesda games, the point isn't to "get the coffee" or whatever; it is to undertake a journey that provides ample opportunities to get sidetracked, make discoveries, meet new friends, make some enemies, and get richer and wiser in the process.

Wait, none of that can actually happen in Starfield? Not just with this one quest, but ever? And Todd didn't see it coming? How odd.

 

[Sallow]

Inclusive Kosher Character Creator for The Jewish People​

Mazal Tov! This mod ensure the character creator stays true to the tenants of the Torah. All pronoun options have been removed. אני מאחל לך כל טוב
I ask that you please respect the beliefs and traditions of Judaism especially given our rough history. All we ask is that you allow us to have this mod so that we may continue to have a space that we can game and abide by our religion

אני מאחל לך כל טוב

Edit : Unfortunately the anti-sematic white supremacist neo Nazi site known as Nexus Mods removed it.

Fake news. The jewish Talmud recognizes eight genders.

(1) Zachar (male), (2) Nekevah (female), (3) Androgynos (having both male and female characteristics), (4) Tumtum (lacking sexual characteristics), (5) Aylonit Hamah (identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics), (6) Aylonit Adam (identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention), (7) Saris Hamah (identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics), and (8) Saris Adam (identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention).

And this is from over 1500 years ago. Cool it with the antisemitism, guys!

 

[soulburner]

at least that coffee was 1 loading screen away and early in the game, I quit when some chick at a space station wanted drink from the bar on mars

That's the thing about this game though: everything is always a loading screen or two away. Getting that drink would have meant the following:

- Without taking a step from the questgiver, fast travel to Cydonia; 1 loading screen
- Walk 20 meters, enter base; 2 loading screens
- Walk 10 meters to bar, get drink, fast travel to space station orbit; 3 loading screens
- "Pilot" spaceship forward for 5 seconds, docking cutscene
- Enter space station from the comfort of your pilot's chair; 4 loading screens
- Run to questgiver, turn in quest, enjoy a job well done.

I mean it's a very obvious fetch quest, but as with fetch quests in Bethesda games, the point isn't to "get the coffee" or whatever; it is to undertake a journey that provides ample opportunities to get sidetracked, make discoveries, meet new friends, make some enemies, and get richer and wiser in the process.

Wait, none of that can actually happen in Starfield? Not just with this one quest, but ever? And Todd didn't see it coming? How odd.

This being a flagship game for Microsoft's Xbox you could think they'd use all the new bells and whistles they developed like Direct Storage. I wouldn't mind the loading screens if they were a fast screen fade out and fade in. While they're not exactly long they take just about a fraction of a second too long, enough to cause discomfort. In addition to that, several quests require the player to personally visit an NPC to report something and receive new information - which could be done through radio or whatever the hell the long distance communication method the Starfield universe has, because we know there is one, as some NPCs openly say they received a message occasionally.

While I like the game very much I can't stop thinking about how there is simply no exploration. So you travel to different solar systems, planets, moons and all you get is a an abandoned outpost which looks exactly like another abandoned outpost several light years away. What I loved about Bethesda games was the walking simulation aspect. You walk from one city to some dungeon or whatever and find 5 other dungeons along the way, a small town with a few new side quests and a surprise dragon attack. In Starfield there is nothing between the few locations that are near a landing spot and spread far apart with nothing but a few weird animals in between at best.

It's a real shame because there is a great game there and with pretty good looking graphics (mixed with ancient looking uglyness). It's just fucked up by the loading screens (even when moving within a single city like New Atlantis, where you CAN walk everywhere but are forced to use the tram; they could also fake the elevators by loading the new location while the player listens to the engine hum), constant fast travel with little to no exploration, repeatable locations (again - Microsoft could help do some wicked things with procedural generation and something like DirectML) or absolutely cringe dialogs, which completely ruin the feel of realism of the world they built (aka suspension of disbelief). Just for fun I tried out some romance options and everyone is so in love with me I felt truly uncomfortable.

The game world is extremely vast but at the same time feels claustrophobic.

In overall, the game feels very rushed. There is this feeling I can't shake that the product which was released wasn't in actual development for too long. Maybe about 2 years. All the earlier development was pretty much scrapped and the rumors of "development hell" may be true. One day they decided to reboot the project for yet another time, removed everything which wasn't working out, dumbed down other features which were kind of okay but came out undercooked and so on. Under proper management they could spit TES6 out within the next 3 years.

 

[Caim]

Inclusive Kosher Character Creator for The Jewish People​

Mazal Tov! This mod ensure the character creator stays true to the tenants of the Torah. All pronoun options have been removed. אני מאחל לך כל טוב
I ask that you please respect the beliefs and traditions of Judaism especially given our rough history. All we ask is that you allow us to have this mod so that we may continue to have a space that we can game and abide by our religion

אני מאחל לך כל טוב

Edit : Unfortunately the anti-sematic white supremacist neo Nazi site known as Nexus Mods removed it.

Fake news. The jewish Talmud recognizes eight genders.

(1) Zachar (male), (2) Nekevah (female), (3) Androgynos (having both male and female characteristics), (4) Tumtum (lacking sexual characteristics), (5) Aylonit Hamah (identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics), (6) Aylonit Adam (identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention), (7) Saris Hamah (identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics), and (8) Saris Adam (identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention).

And this is from over 1500 years ago. Cool it with the antisemitism, guys!

Cease your semitic trickery. Everybody knows that this is tum tum:

 

[Moink]

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/will...3613804544-7nEH?trk=public_profile_share_view

Will Shen too.

EDIT: Kurt Kuhlmann left earlier this month as well, so that's 3 major staff gone post-release.

 

[Yosharian]

Pete Hines gone, there is hope yet!

 

[Caim]

Pete Hines gone, there is hope yet!

When's Todd leaving?

 

[Zariusz]

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/will...3613804544-7nEH?trk=public_profile_share_view

Will Shen is gone as well.

Hah! And to think that just few months ago i remembered seeing 4chan posts about Todd grooming him to be his successor lol.

 

[Yosharian]

Pete Hines gone, there is hope yet!

When's Todd leaving?

Someone has to take him out.

 

[Vic]

oh shit, seems like Starfield was Bethesda’s last great RPG.

 

[Yosharian]

Starfield

great RPG