Terraria

Terraria
Terraria logo
Developer(s)	Re-Logic Additional work by: Engine Software (consoles) Codeglue (mobile)
Publisher(s)	NA 505 Games PAL Re-Logic JP Spike Chunsoft
Designer(s)	Andrew "Redigit" Spinks Whitney "Cenx" Baird
Programmer(s)	Yorai "Yoraiz0r" Omer Skiphs
Artist(s)	Jim "Jimmarn" Kjexrud Victor "Crowno" Moura Lazure
Composer(s)	Scott Lloyd Shelly
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation Network Xbox 360 Xbox Live Arcade PlayStation Vita Windows Phone Android iOS PlayStation 4 Xbox One Kindle Fire
Release date(s)	May 16, 2011 Microsoft Windows May 16, 2011 PlayStation Network[1] NA March 26, 2013 PAL May 15, 2013 JP May 17 , 2013 Xbox Live Arcade March 27, 2013[2] PlayStation Vita[3][4] JP February 6, 2014 NA December 17, 2013 PAL December 11, 2013 iOS August 29, 2013[5] Android September 13, 2013[6] Windows Phone September 12, 2014 PlayStation 4 November 11, 2014 (digital) December 2, 2014 (disc) [7] Xbox One November 14, 2014 (digital) December 2, 2014 (disc)[8]
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution	Optical disc, download

Terraria is an action-adventure sandbox indie video game series, developed by game studio Re-Logic and released on Microsoft Windows, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Windows Phone, Android, iOS, and Kindle Fire HD. The game features exploration, crafting, construction, and combat with a variety of creatures in a randomly generated 2D world.

Originally released for Microsoft Windows on May 16, 2011. The game is estimated to have sold about 50,000 copies during its first day of release, with over 17,000 players online at the same time during the first day's peak.^[9] 200,000 copies of the game were sold, making it the top-selling game on Steam for the week, ahead of The Witcher 2 and Portal 2.^[10] It remained number one on Steam for the first six days of its release,^[11] and as of January 2013 has sold over 2,500,000 copies.^[12] Terraria became DRM-free on October 2, 2014 when it was released on GOG.com.^[13]

The game was released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade (worldwide except for Europe and Australia) at the end of March 2013 with exclusive content. The PS3 European and Australian release date was May 15, 2013.^[1] It was announced on March 28, 2013 that Terraria is coming to the PlayStation Vita. It was released on December 11, 2013.^[3] The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Vita versions were developed by Dutch studio Engine Software. On August 29, 2013, Terraria was released on iOS phones and tablets, after development by the Dutch studio Codeglue.^[14] The iOS edition of Terraria received a large update on August 28, 2014, bringing "Hardmode", a part of the game previously not available on mobile platforms. The game was also released on Android on September 12, 2013.^[15] Terraria was released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on December 2, 2014 on physical disc, and digital release on November 11, 2014.^[16] On September 13, 2014, Re-Logic announced that Terraria would be coming to OS X and Linux.^[17]

Gameplay

A screenshot of Terraria gameplay.

Terraria is an open-ended sandbox 2D game with gameplay revolved around exploration, building, and action.^[18][19] The game has a 2D sprite tile-based graphical style reminiscent of the 16-bit sprites found on the SNES.^[19] The game is noted for its classic exploration-adventure style of gameplay, similar to titles such as Metroid and Minecraft.^[19][20][21]

The game starts in a procedurally generated world and the player is created with three basic tools: a pickaxe for mining, a shortsword for combat, and an axe for woodcutting. Many resources, notably ores, can be found while mining or exploring underground caves. The player also starts off with 100 health which can be increased by life crystals and life fruits when in hardmode. Some resources and most items may only be found in certain areas of the map, stored in common and rare containers, or dropped by certain enemies.^[18] Players use resources to craft new items and equipment at an appropriate crafting station for that recipe. For example, tables can be crafted at a work bench or bars smelted from ore at a furnace. Many advanced items in Terraria require several crafting operations, where the product of one recipe will be used as the ingredient for another. Players encounter many different enemies in Terraria from simple slimes, zombies, demon eyes, and many more to various region-specific enemies. The occurrence of certain enemies depends on several factors including time, location, random events and player interactions.^[18] Players may also summon powerful boss monsters with various combat mechanics such as the Eye of Cthulhu and Plantera that drop rare items and large amounts of in-game currency. All bosses can be summoned with certain items, through destroying blocks through the world, or when certain criteria are met. Each map will have several zones with unique items and unusual enemies, and one of two evil biomes known as the Crimson and the Corruption. Both gradually spread across the world and have their own unique bosses and loot.

By completing specific goals (such as defeating a boss, finding a gun, or acquiring 50 silver coins), characters can attract non-player characters (NPCs) to occupy structures or rooms they have built, such as a merchant, nurse, or wizard.^[18] Some NPCs can be acquired by finding them throughout the world and will then reside in the player's house. Characters may then buy or sell items and certain services from NPCs with coins found in the world. Examples of NPCs include: guide, merchant, nurse, painter, dye trader, demolitionist, dryad, arms dealer, party girl, stylist, angler, goblin tinkerer, witch doctor, clothier, mechanic, wizard, truffle, pirate, steampunker, cyborg, and Santa Claus, who can only be encountered from 25 November to 31 December. Some NPCs can't currently be found in the mobile versions. The game includes a rather complex currency system, which can be used to complete transactions with NPCs, used as decorations, or used as ammunition in some weapons. The coins, listed in order of value and rarity, are copper, silver, gold, and platinum, with copper used as the base unit. The coin system is similar to real life currency systems, as a certain amount of one currency (i.e. 100) will amount to another and will be automatically converted. So 1 platinum coin is worth 1,000,000 copper coins. Coins can be obtained by slaying monsters, breaking some blocks, and selling items to NPCs. By summoning and defeating a boss called the Wall of Flesh, which is summoned by throwing a Guide Voodoo Doll into lava, the player will activate the game's "hardmode", which causes drastic changes to the player's world, including stronger enemies and more bosses to challenge.^[22] The change to hardmode adds many new and harder-to-defeat enemies to the game in all biomes, as well as many new NPCs, new bosses (including tougher versions of pre-hardmode bosses), and makes many new items available for crafting or acquiring from mob and boss drops. A much larger part of the world becomes corrupted and a new "Hallow" biome emerges and spreads over time, and both cannot convert each other. The spreading of the crimson or corrupted biomes can be halted by surrounding the biome with an uncorruptible biome, such as the Hallow, or digging 4-block wide shafts around the corrupted area or the player's base. The corrupted biomes can also be removed completely by using purification powder (which turns them into forest/regular biomes) and using holy water (which turns them into hallow), or using the, clentaminator bought from an NPC known as the Steampunker, which can be used to turn any biome into another. The clentaminator's role in late hard mode is vital, as, to create hardmode ores allowing them to continue, the player must allow new small corruptions/crimsons/hallows to be generated, eventually causing most of the map to be converted. However, every biome will spread significantly slower after defeating Plantera, a huge plant boss, in the jungle.

The game recognizes many different biomes, defined by the blocks that exist in the vicinity, and each home to a unique set of enemies. The most prominent biomes on the world map are the Jungle, Snow, Crimson/Corruption, Hallow, Dungeon, and Underworld. However, other minor biomes exist and affect the variety of enemies that spawn, expanding the list to include Desert, Spider Caves, Floating Islands, and the Lihzahrd Temple. Certain biomes feature bosses that can be summoned, such as the Jungle (Plantera and Queen Bee), Corruption (Eater of Worlds), Crimson (Brain of Cthulhu), and Dungeon (Skeletron), Lihzahrd Temple (Golem), and ocean (Duke Fishron). The defeat of these bosses is often tied to game progression. For example, the Dungeon is inaccessible before Skeletron's defeat (though the player is welcome to try), and is unaffected by the activation of Hardmode until Plantera is defeated, upon which the difficulty of Dungeon enemies rises drastically with new enemies such as skeleton snipers.

Players are able to construct elaborate contraptions made from wires and mechanisms alike. These systems allow for easier gameplay and gaining an upper hand by doing helpful tasks such as disguising buildings and setting up traps. These contraptions can also however be found within the world to harm the player or be used for mere aesthetics.

Development

Terraria was developed by Re-Logic, with development starting in January 2011, and is built on the Microsoft XNA framework. The game was released on May 16, 2011. At release Re-Logic was composed of Andrew Spinks, who designed and programmed the game, Finn Brice, who along with Spinks did the graphic design for the game, and Jeremy Guerrette, who was Production Assistant at Re-Logic but left the team shortly after the release of the game. The music was composed by Scott Lloyd Shelly through his Resonance Array studio.^[23] After the release the game was updated multiple times including the large 1.1 update.^[24]

In February 2012, the developers announced that they would not be continuing active development, but would release a final bug-fix patch.^[25][26] However, development resumed in 2013 with the release of version 1.2. Additionally, 505 Games has ported the game to several video game consoles and added new content, but does not have any rights to the PC version of the game.^[27][28] On January 24, 2013, Spinks requested suggestions of features for possible future updates to the PC version. This question was put to people on the official Terraria forum.^[29] As of April 3, 2013, Spinks posted a spoiler on the possible update for Terraria, showing the possibility of the update.^[30] While initially the release was slated for July 2013,^[31] it was later moved to October 1, 2013.^[32][33] After the 1.2 update was released the game went back to receiving continuous updates, receiving a Halloween and Christmas update which expanded the endgame significantly.^[34][35] It was announced that the upcoming 1.3 update will be the last which Spinks will work on personally, the developers Yorai Omer and Skiphs will take over programming and Whitney Baird will take over as Lead developer.

Spike Chunsoft released the PlayStation 3 version in Japan, including exclusive items such as a costume based on Monokuma from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

On December 4, 2014, update 1.2 was released on all mobile systems, adding most of the features that were previously available to the PC version to the game. These features include over 1000 new obtainable items, 100 enemies, and several different bosses.^[36][37]

Sequels

In an October 2013 interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Spinks announced that he is planning a sequel, Terraria 2.^[38]

Another game set in the Terraria universe, Terraria: Otherworld was announced in February 2015. According to the Re-Logic staff Terraria: Otherworld is not Terraria 2. Terraria: Otherworld is a story about a Terraria player who tries to purify his world of Corruption. This is to be achieved mainly by finding and activating "purifying towers". Some differences between This sequel and the original "Terraria" include more "PPG" elements such as a new strategy/tower defense gameplay element, a skill tree and an actual storyline to follow. The release date is set to be around 2015 for "PC" and "Mac" ^[39]

Reception

Terraria has received favorable reviews from critics, with an 83/100 metascore on Metacritic.^[41] A review for Destructoid included praise for Terraria as "full of depth".^[46] Another reviewer praised Terraria‍ '​s integration of some of Minecraft‍ '​s concepts into two dimensions.^[47]

GameSpot praised Terraria‍ '​s exploration and feeling of accomplishment but criticized its lack of tutorial or explicit directions.^[18][45] IGN praised the game, claiming that Terraria "expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure."^[44] Terraria received the #1 of 2011 Indie of the Year Player Choice on IndieDB.^[48]

References

External links

• Official website
• Official wiki