Revisiting Starbound: Thoughts on 2D Architecture Amongst Other Things

This weekend has been a rather busy mixture of things to the point where I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about.  I’ve been helping out for the upcoming general elections, producing a documentary with my history society and watching the Dota 2 MLG Lan finals all while fitting in time to play some games.  With the start of season 5 (or series 5 the words have become interchangeable these days) of Game of Thrones I thought I would be all for putting stuff down to watch it, but I haven’t even found time to do so.  Because of this, you may imagine something like this hasn’t seen much of the light of day over the past couple days. 

So, as I sat back in my chair watching EG vs. NiP battle it out a random thought dropped into my head regarding my recent return to Starbound, a game that I enjoy that features those building elements purposely built for discussions on architecture.  That being said, I wanted to try and find a way to show what makes it great for me against its predecessors. 

Starbound is a 2-dimension procedurally generated sandbox game that features a strong focus on materials and crafting to produce a vast quantity of weapons, armour and building components amongst other things.  It has a great deal in common with Terraria (also being 2D) but where Starbound differs is through such factors as interacting with multiple worlds, object redistribution and character augmentation that look to present a more RPG-esc mechanic against Terraria and other sandbox crafting games like the highly popular Minecraft.  Having an interest in construction and design, you would imagine I would prefer Minecraft a great deal over Starbound due to the 3 dimensions and tools to create vast builds, but it’s just never got to that point for me.  My time in Minecraft was enjoyable and I liked discussing the concepts of using technology to create alternative means of architecture (see my post on player housing) but as a game I didn’t feel engaged.  So again, what makes Starbound great for me?

Player Ship designed to look like a train.  Screenshot Taken 13/4/2015

From a gameplay point of view, it’s very clear that Starbound (in correlation to base game models) offers a nice mix of character progression and combat beyond the ‘wave stick at skeleton’ that Minecraft survival mode offers.  From an architectural point of view however, I feel that it creates a ‘less is more’ vibe that allows the player to add detail in a different way thanks to the 2D presentation.  You can show interiors and exteriors working together against the backdrop of a verdant valley or night’s sky which can dwarf its surroundings or slip into the environment.  These are all factors of architecture and why in design in particular fashions; as we strive to keep one village as incognito as it first settle some 500 years ago vs. a contrasting villa of modernism shooting out against a forest unchanged for centuries. 

An earlier play-through of mine featuring a more slap-dash approach to the spaceship.  Screenshot taken 12/10/2014

With all this taken into consideration, I looked at my homebase in Starbound couple days ago and it very much sits in the ‘basic / utilitarian’ side of design as its rectangle wooden frame features my crafting stations, storage and bed to present some resemblance of a home.  Since then, I added another floor and some minor artistic flourishes in the shape of a painting, chandelier and suit of armour found on a remote planet, but it’s still rather basic and not being too interesting.  I took a moment to think about what I was doing and came up with an idea that seem only obvious after conceptualising it, Sections. 

The simple dwelling soon to be improved on.  Screenshot Taken 13/4/2014

When design a building, there are a number of drawings you’ll look to do to conceptualise the design for the client.  Plans, perspectives, elevations and axonometric are all used alongside the section which takes a vertical cut through the building to show a number of different things.  A section shows wall structure, windows, stairwells, voids and rooms all alike focusing on particular details like how the exterior wall interacts with a roof.  When I studied architecture, these drawings took a decent amount of time for me but I thoroughly enjoyed drawing timber frame buildings with the joists at a regular pattern or masonry walls with cavity wall insulation and render with the ever so often façade of timber slats or similar aesthetical choice (I can’t remember if those materials go well together but for the purpose of this you kinda get what I mean).  Taking all this into consideration, I built up my walls and started to add all these little features which is slowly taking my simple lived-in house into something special which I’m slowly working on when I have time available.  Much like groups of people who come together in Minecraft to recreate a city, this has got me thinking about rebuilding pieces in Starbound such as ‘A Walking City’ from Archigram but of course on a much smaller scale. 

So to summarise, building in 2D has been an interesting experience that is allowing me to rekindle some of that love for drawing sections in architecture I felt previously.  Thinking about it, this probably goes back into my interest of wanting to know how things work and all that engineering stuff.  These couple weeks have been fascinating for me looking back at where this has all come from.  Hopefully next week I’ll be able to show some screenshots of progress in design and talk a bit more about it.