Could starbound be considered open world?

[Mark the Chinese Lawyer]

title

[Brassqund]

There is more then billions of planets to explore....
And you can explore left right but also down...
how can it not be open world XD

[BootlegFriend]

I'm pretty sure it can be considered open world

[MozarteanChaos]

it's set in an entire universe.
yes.

[Cpt. Victor]

Originally posted by goose noises:

it's set in an entire universe.
yes.

open universe?

[Nabeel]

yeah

[Serath]

Wait....is this a serious question? Do you even know what open world means? Given you have all the unlockable items to be able to traverse each planet type safely, and there being 12.667 quadrillion planets for EACH seed you can use for your universe, (the default which usulaly everyone uses for universal online database purposes).....

"Calculating 12.667 quadrillion (planets per single game) times 3,172,227 gives you the approximate number of every planet in existence; 4.0182599408999996e22 planets. "

https://starbounder.org/Planets

Knowing all that, what do you think?

Info, trailers, and previews on the game should make this fairly obvious. Even if I didn't own the game myself the last thing I would of thought the game would be was to go through 4.0182599408999996e22 levels in a linear fashion until the last boss at the end. If that was how the game was structured to finish the game, I'm pretty sure certain....complications would arise from anyone attemting to achieve that.

[sammy]

Originally posted by Serath:

Wait....is this a serious question? Do you even know what open world means? Given you have all the unlockable items to be able to traverse each planet type safely, and there being 12.667 quadrillion planets for EACH seed you can use for your universe, (the default which usulaly everyone uses for universal online database purposes).....

"Calculating 12.667 quadrillion (planets per single game) times 3,172,227 gives you the approximate number of every planet in existence; 4.0182599408999996e22 planets. "

https://starbounder.org/Planets

Knowing all that, what do you think?

Info, trailers, and previews on the game should make this fairly obvious. Even if I didn't own the game myself the last thing I would of thought the game would be was to go through 4.0182599408999996e22 levels in a linear fashion until the last boss at the end. If that was how the game was structured to finish the game, I'm pretty sure certain....complications would arise from anyone attemting to achieve that.

*clap *clap

[Mayo]

No, thats rediculous.

[ZappyDoggo]

I think an 'Open World' tag is more intended for first-person, 3d-view games, not for ones that are sidescrolling sandbox platformers, with almost limitless/excessive space.
I don't think Starbound is 'open world', just.. sandbox. Sandbox is intended for games where you still have a lot of space to explore, and freedom to do almost whatever.

So, no, It's not openworld, due to lack of First person/3d movement. It's just Sandbox.

[Serath]

Originally posted by xephosarkeyus:

I think an 'Open World' tag is more intended for first-person, 3d-view games, not for ones that are sidescrolling sandbox platformers, with almost limitless/excessive space.
I don't think Starbound is 'open world', just.. sandbox. Sandbox is intended for games where you still have a lot of space to explore, and freedom to do almost whatever.

So, no, It's not openworld, due to lack of First person/3d movement. It's just Sandbox.

The definition isn't really set in stone. You can have a sandbox game but not be open world for example, (Garry's Mod) but if you're going by what is considered open world by today's standards, Starbound has both.

"The term "free roam" is also used, as is "sandbox" and "free-roaming".[2][3] "Open world" and "free-roaming" suggest nonlinear gameplay with the absence of artificial barriers,[4] in contrast to the invisible walls and loading screens that are common in linear level designs."

http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Open-world_video_games

What do the amount of degrees of movement have to do with not being able to do whatever you want, wherever? I think you're confusing "open world" with "freedom/degree of movement." I mean, nearly all the VR games out there I see limit you to standing in one place. I hardly call that open at all. It's just very virtual. IMO the "sandbox" refers to the freedom of doing a large amount of activites whenever you want. You have lots of toys in the sandbox and you can do as you please, but you don't really go anywhere do you? You have to stay in the box. Where the "open world" bit is exploring a "huge and open world," leaving that "box," hence the term.

Yes, I'm aware "3D graphics" is listed there as criteria to be "open world" but that's really only scratching the surface of whan an open world game really is. If that was the only criteria to consider something as open world, that's like saying Battlezone would be considered along the same lines as, say GTA V simply because both games have driveable tanks in first person.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctr54kopo8I

Descent is an, albeit old, 6DOF game, having more degrees of movement than your typical first-person or 3rd person view game. Yet just like Doom, you're still navigating a maze of which there is only one right way to go through without backtracking. In the case of a modern day shooter, sequence of events that happens no matter what. All of these are examples of extremely linear gameplay, quite the opposite of what is considered open world by today's standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm3oM_j_dNE

Zelda or Metroid on NES could be considered open-world by that definition, albeit a much smaller world compared today and still have "artificial barriers," but those are usually masked under the guise of enivornmental hazards instead of unimmersive invisible walls. (Like not being able to go left in a stage of Mario)

A 3D example would be No Man's Sky (yes I'm going there) and I think it's pretty obvious both NMS and Starbound share similar mechanics. Is NMS not considered open world?

Virtually all mechanics of Starbound has been copied from or inspiried by other "open-world" games, only Starbound has them all in ONE game. The only reason it's 2D is because simple pixel graphics are a lot easier to manage to create a hopefully good amount of terrian tilesets and indvidual pieces that every planet looks unique yet still use procedueral generation. Not to mention to ALSO have said tilesets, as well as the rest of the game's assets such as NPCs, objects, items, etc to have a flexible enough API that allow for near limitless amount of moddability.

I can't imagine the time and work it would take to pull that off in a fully 3D game. I assure you if CF had the time and resources to pull that off, they would of made it 3D. If Starbound was made in 3D and you controlled your character from a first or third person perspective, would you still consider it not open?

[Katz]

No.

it is a "Space Exploration" game with crafting mechanics.

[MozarteanChaos]

Originally posted by Lone Trooper:

No.

it is a "Space Exploration" game with crafting mechanics.

tfw nonlinear game with billions(?) of planets available at once isnt open world

[Serath]

Originally posted by goose noises:

Originally posted by Lone Trooper:

No.

it is a "Space Exploration" game with crafting mechanics.

tfw nonlinear game with billions(?) of planets available at once isnt open world

He's not even counting the "worlds" as part of the exploration, he's talking about "space." The stuff that used to be just basically a semi-loading screen and still now only makes up about 15% of the gameplay, or nearly 0% when the game first came out.

[MysticMalevolence]

This is arguing semantics.

[Serath]

Originally posted by Dylan the Cartographer:

This is arguing semantics.

Don't really know what else is there to talk about. The OP has yet to respond, they've provided absolutley no context as to why he's asking the question, whether they own the game, whether they've done "any" research on the game or the open world genre itself, or anything else. OP could of just been a bot for all we know.

So really at the moment the whole thread is pointless. The game is what it is. Play it or don't.