Indie Sandbox Phenomenon Starbound Promises No More Character Wipes... Ever!

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

If you've been putting off buying into the Starbound beta (which now has over one million players) for fear of losing all your hard work to a character wipe, I have some very good news for you. The latest patch for the two-dimensional space exploration sandbox game included some significant changes to the way the game stores and handles character data, with the intention of eliminating the need for character wipes after major tweaks are made. I'm inclined to take this promise with a grain of salt -- betas are betas after all -- but given that there have only been a couple wipes since the beta launched in late 2013, I'm optimistic.

The new file structure also means that some mods may have to be moved around, including any custom music you've loaded into your game.

Thankfully this patch comes with much more than just that dash of inconvenience. The Starbound devs are incredibly aggressive when it comes to adding new content (and improving what's already there) so be sure to check the patch notes for a complete list of the changes made.

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Iris Ophelia (@bleatingheart, Janine Hawkins IRL) has been featured in the New York Times, and has spoken about SL-based design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and with pop culture/fashion maven Johanna Blakley.