Player-made Ship Shops

[JoelFB]

Hey all, here's a clarification regarding Ship Shops (sparked by the Week 30 Progress Notes).

Our vision for Starbase is that any player (or faction) can create content freely and make that available for other players - including Ship Shops. However right now we are still in Alpha, and not all of this is possible yet. We as developers want to support our playerbase by going the required extra mile, meaning that we'll support player-made content to help our vision become a reality a little bit sooner than otherwise would happen.

The first Ship Shop consisting of player-made ships will be introduced soon, and it will be Okim Industries. To date they have created a total of 25 ships, from 10 different designers, which is a great contribution to the game and the community. We've been super happy to see their high-quality designs and decided to give them a Ship Shop of their own. We've already overgrown the original Ship Shop, and as player factions having their own Ship Shops is part of the vision we have for the game, giving Okim Industries their own Ship Shop at this point feels like a logical extension to us.

Two important points:

• We will create Ship Shops for any faction that fulfills the requirements (see below)
• The "regular" Ship Shop is still at a slightly better location (we'll see later if we want to boost it a bit more)

As Alpha progresses, we'll be making changes to locations and the Ship Shop form - and most likely we'll start to have different types of Ship Shops eventually - and at some point players will be able to make their own custom Ship Shops with ingame tools.

So what are the requirements for a player faction Ship Shop?

First, one Ship Shop currently holds the following amount of ships (see ship sizes in this image):

• 5 large
• 11 medium
• 10 small

Any faction that has 20 or more ships approved (of any kind) will get their own Ship Shop. Note that submitting a ship doesn't guarantee approval, we still hold the final say for ships that we approve, but we try to be as impartial as we can. We may also revise these requirements or make exceptions (for example if some faction makes ships with a focus on large + medium sizes). Later we may open the approval process to the community itself.

Please also note that adding a new Ship Shop will take some time, so if you already have around 10 ships approved and are planning on creating more ships and getting your own Ship Shop, please get in touch with us.

No economical benefit

Currently in Alpha there's generally no economical benefit to having a ship in a Ship Shop, or a faction Ship Shop. There's no royalty generated per-sale or anything like that. We plan to introduce some kind of a royalty scheme in the final game during Early Access.

What about faction visibility?

A faction getting their own Ship Shop is a small advantage in terms of marketing that faction and recruiting for it, we acknowledge that. However since there's no economical benefit, we feel that this is only a problem during Alpha, when there's a lot of "firsts" and the playerbase is limited. Once we start inviting more players this problem is alleviated, especially when we invite bigger groups/factions who already have their own plans outside of the game. We'll keep an eye on the situation and will make changes if needed.

Can individual players also get their own Ship Shops?

Yes, if they meet the ship amount requirements.

 

[Kenetor]

Hey I see my ship! nice!

 

[Quevin]

Chalcosoma (Tri-Pincer) available for order soon! May you haul your asteroid / constructions with care!

 

[Recatek]

Any faction that has 20 or more ships approved (of any kind) will get their own Ship Shop. Note that submitting a ship doesn't guarantee approval, we still hold the final say for ships that we approve, but we try to be as impartial as we can. We may also revise these requirements or make exceptions (for example if some faction makes ships with a focus on large + medium sizes). Later we may open the approval process to the community itself.

I think some of this could be avoided in the future if the requirements are openly published ahead of time. This gives anyone a chance to compete for a little while before any decisions are made, even if you already know one or two groups immediately qualify.

 

[JoelFB]

I think some of this could be avoided in the future if the requirements are openly published ahead of time. This gives anyone a chance to compete for a little while before any decisions are made, even if you already know one or two groups immediately qualify.

I agree completely. I hope that our development becomes a bit less hectic in EA and allows us to communicate more (and in advance). In Closed Alpha we strive to be a bit more "agile" with our development and decisions (somewhat similar to what we would do in a fully closed development environment), whereas in EA we'll have a more thoughtful process for everything. Our eye is on EA but of course it doesn't mean that we shouldn't start practicing good communication already...

 

[mrfotnz]

Will there eventually be support for other shops or faction storefronts? For example a store front for a salvage faction selling found parts, almost like a second hand shop?

 

[FatFly]

Nice Koios got in. Thanks guys!

 

[JoelFB]

Will there eventually be support for other shops or faction storefronts? For example a store front for a salvage faction selling found parts, almost like a second hand shop?

Yes, we envision players being able to set up all kinds of storefronts. The ships is just the easiest to start with, others will follow.

 

[VenlaFB]

SUBMISSION PROCESS FOR PLAYERS' SPACESHIP SHOPS
UPDATED 11.12.2020

Send the details below to Community Managers when applying for a new spaceship shop.
Note that the shops have their own restrictions (and possibilities!) which should be acknowledged before applying - please read them first!

• Shop size
• Shop name
• 2 or 3 main colours for the shop
• Ships included in the shop, based on the requirements below
• Layout request''' based on the shops' blueprints

SMALL SPACESHIP SHOPS:

• Room for 5 small and 5 medium spaceships. Bigger ships require a large shop.
• Any player or faction with at least 5 small / medium approved ships can apply for a small shop.
• Each faction can only have one small spaceship shop.
  • If you plan to produce a large amount of spaceships, or are interested in creating big ships, please request a large shop instead!
  • If you have a large shop and want to apply for a small shop afterwards, we can't promise that said request can be granted

Small spaceship shop layout:

LARGE SPACESHIP SHOPS:

• Room for the following ship sizes:
  • 10 small
  • 7 medium
  • 3 large
  • 2 x-large (Currently one x-large area can be reserved for 2 large ships)
• Any faction that has 10 or more approved ships that match with the size chart, will get their own ship shop.
• Once the acquired shop has been completely filled, another large shop can be requested.

Large spaceship shop layout:

Please note, that all the spaceship shop application and other updates will most likely take their time before showing up in the game. Developers will get to them as soon™ as they can. Thank you for your understanding!

Ship submissions are done in-game via a form that you can access with F1. The instructions for submitting ships can be found on Discord.

!! Please note that the submitted material for ship shops might not be implemented into the game as provided. We reserve the right to change applications to better fit the game’s regulations and theme. Use of copyrighted material in the submissions is prohibited. !!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Here are the ship dimensions:
Small = 10x7x7
Medium = 25x15x20
Large = 35x35x50 (unavailable in small ship shops)