Terraria

Terraria
Logo of Terraria
Developer(s)	Re-Logic[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)	505 Games Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux Re-Logic Microsoft Windows (retail) EU Headup Games
Distributor(s)	Microsoft Windows (retail) EU Merge Games
Designer(s)	Andrew Spinks Whitney Baird
Programmer(s)	Yorai Omer Skiphs
Artist(s)	Jim Kjexrud Victor Moura Jamison Hayes
Composer(s)	Scott Lloyd Shelly
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows OS X Android iOS Linux Nintendo 3DS PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Wii U Windows Phone Xbox 360 Xbox One
Release date(s)	May 16, 2011 Microsoft Windows WW May 16, 2011 PlayStation 3 NA March 26, 2013 PAL May 15, 2013 Xbox 360 WW March 27, 2013 PlayStation Vita NA December 17, 2013 PAL December 11, 2013 iOS WW August 29, 2013 Android WW September 13, 2013 Windows Phone WW September 12, 2014 PlayStation 4 WW November 11, 2014 Xbox One WW November 14, 2014 OS X, Linux WW August 12, 2015 Nintendo 3DS WW December 10, 2015 Wii U WW April 12, 2016
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, survival
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Terraria is an action-adventure sandbox video game developed by game studio Re-Logic. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows on May 16, 2011. It was later released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, iOS, and Android in 2013, for Windows Phone, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2014, and for OS X, Linux, and Nintendo 3DS in 2015. A version for the Wii U is also in development.

The game features exploration, crafting, construction, and combat with a variety of creatures in a randomly generated 2D world. The game received positive reviews from critics, and over 12 million copies of Terraria have been sold as of June 2015.

Gameplay

A screenshot of Terraria gameplay.

Terraria is an open-ended sandbox 2D game with gameplay that revolves around exploration, building, and action.^[1][2] The game has a 2D sprite tile-based graphical style reminiscent of the 16-bit sprites found on the SNES.^[2] The game is noted for its classic exploration-adventure style of gameplay, similar to titles such as the Metroid series and Minecraft.^[2][3][4]

The game starts in a procedurally generated world. The player starts with three basic tools: a pickaxe for mining, a shortsword for combat, and an axe for woodcutting.^[1] Many resources, notably ores, can be found while mining or exploring underground caves. The player starts off with 100 health, which can eventually be increased up to 500 by finding special items underground.^[1] 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.^[1] The player uses 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 and bars can be smelted from ore at a furnace. Several advanced items in Terraria require multiple crafting operations where the product of one recipe is used as the ingredient for another.

The player can encounter many different enemies in Terraria such as simple slimes, zombies, demon eyes, and various region-specific enemies. The occurrence of certain enemies depends on several factors including time, location, random events, and player interactions.^[1] The player can fight against enemies with swords, bows, guns, magic spells, and other weapons. Each map will have several zones with unique items and unusual enemies.

The player 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 by using certain items, destroying blocks through the world, or when certain criteria are met. Several of the bosses can spawn naturally in certain places and times. The defeat of these bosses is often tied to in-game progression. For example, the Dungeon is inaccessible before Skeletron's defeat, and it is unaffected by the activation of Hardmode until Plantera is defeated. Upon defeating Plantera, the difficulty of Dungeon enemies rises drastically with new enemies. Occasionally, the player will have to defend their base against invasions from enemies such as the Goblin Army and Martians, or against events that affect the entire world, including the Frost Moon and the Solar Eclipse.

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.^[1] 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. Other examples of NPCs include the clothier, the truffle (a sentient mushroom), and the tax collector. Some NPCs cannot currently be found in the mobile versions.

The game includes a currency system in the form of coins that 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. One platinum coin is worth 1,000,000 copper coins. Coins can be obtained by slaying monsters, breaking some blocks, and selling items to NPCs.

The player is able to construct contraptions made from wires and mechanisms collected around the world or purchased from NPCs. These systems allow for easier gameplay and gaining the upper hand in combat by performing helpful tasks such as disguising buildings, instantly teleporting the player long distances, and dealing damage to enemies. These machines can also be randomly generated underground and in dungeons where they can harm reckless players.

The game recognizes many different biomes and areas, 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 Forest, Jungle, Desert, Snow, the Hallow, the Dungeon, Oceans, the Underworld, and the two evil, corrupted biomes known as the Corruption and the Crimson. However, only one of these evil biomes will naturally appear in a world. Other minor biomes exist and affect the variety of enemies that spawn, expanding the list to include Floating Islands, Spider Nests, Outer Space, Glowing Mushroom Caves, Granite Caves, Marble Caves, and the Lihzahrd Temple. Some of the biomes have bosses associated with them such as the Dungeon (Skeletron) and the Lihzahrd Temple (Golem).

The Corruption and Crimson biomes gradually spread across the world, converting many normal block types to their Corruption or Crimson counterparts. The Hallow acts as a good equivalent to the world's evil biome, and will also spread across the world. Both the Hallow and the evil biomes cannot spread over each other, over empty space, or over blocks with no biome equivalent. These biomes can also merge with some other biomes to form hybrid biomes (e.g., Corrupted Desert, Hallowed Ice) with unique enemies and blocks. The evil biomes will slowly convert the Jungle into plain Corruption or Crimson, but the Hallow cannot convert it.

By summoning and defeating a boss called the Wall of Flesh, the player activates "hardmode". Hardmode causes drastic changes to the player's world, including stronger enemies and more bosses to challenge.^[5] The change to hardmode adds many new and harder-to-defeat enemies to the game in all biomes, as well as new NPCs, bosses (including tougher, robotic versions of pre-hardmode bosses known as the Mechanical Bosses), new ores, and items available for crafting or acquiring from enemy and boss drops. A much larger part of the world becomes corrupted by the world's evil biome and the Hallow biome emerges. Spreading biomes are also able to convert more block types at a faster rate than before hardmode.

After Golem is defeated, new NPCs appear outside of the Dungeon called Cultists.^[6] The Cultists will not attack the player unless provoked. If they are killed, their leader, a boss called the Lunatic Cultist, will attack the player. Upon defeat of this boss, four space-themed minibosses called the Stardust, Vortex, Nebula, and Solar Pillars will appear throughout the world, and the player is free to destroy them in any order. The pillars do not attack the player directly, but they are defended by powerful enemies. After the fourth pillar is destroyed, the final boss, the Moon Lord, will attack the player.

The game also features an expert mode difficulty.^[6] Enabled when creating a world, expert mode increases the difficulty of the game by increasing the strength of monsters and bosses, further increasing the strength of weaker enemies after hardmode, giving the bosses new attack patterns, and other tweaks. In addition to the higher difficulty level, expert mode increases the chance for enemies to drop rare items, and adds new items that can only be obtained by defeating the bosses on expert mode.

Development and release

Terraria was developed by Re-Logic, with development starting in January 2011,^[7] and is built on the Microsoft XNA framework.^[8] 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 a production assistant at Re-Logic, but left shortly after the release of the game. The music was composed by Scott Lloyd Shelly.^[9] The game was released for Microsoft Windows on May 16, 2011.^[10]

Post-launch, the game has been updated on multiple occasions. In December 2011, Re-Logic updated Terraria to version 1.1, adding new monsters, bosses, NPCs, and items. The update also included improvements to the game's world generation technology and lighting system.^[11] In February 2012, the developers announced that they would not be continuing active development, but would release a final bug-fix patch.^[12] However, development resumed in 2013 with Spinks asking the community for ideas and features to include in a future content update.^[13]

In September 2012, Spinks announced that Engine Software and 505 Games would be porting Terraria to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.^[14] The game was released for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade on March 27, 2013.^[15] The PlayStation 3 version was released via PlayStation Network in North America on March 26, 2013^[15] and in Europe and Australia on May 15, 2013.^[16] Shortly after the initial console release, 505 Games announced Terraria for PlayStation Vita;^[17] it was released in Europe on December 11, 2013, and North America on December 17, 2013.^[18] Spike Chunsoft localized the PlayStation 3 and Vita versions for release in Japan, including exclusive items such as a costume based on Monokuma from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.^[19][20] In May 2013, 505 Games announced a mobile version of Terraria ported by Dutch studio Codeglue for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone.^[21] It was released for iOS on August 29, 2013,^[22] and for Android on September 13, 2013.^[23] The Windows Phone version was released on September 12, 2014.^[24]

In October 2013, Re-Logic released version 1.2 for Terraria on Windows after nine months in development. The update added a host of new mechanics, gameplay changes, graphics adjustments.^[25] 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.^[26][27] The console and mobile versions received update 1.2 in 2014.^[28][29] Terraria became DRM-free on October 2, 2014, when it was released on GOG.com.^[30]

A downloadable version of Terraria was released for PlayStation 4 on November 11, 2014, and Xbox One on November 14, 2014,^[31][32] with a retail release on December 2, 2014.^[33] In September 2014, Re-Logic announced that Terraria would be coming to OS X and Linux.^[34] They were both released on August 12, 2015.^[35] The Nintendo 3DS version was first released on the Nintendo eShop on December 10, 2015.^[36] A Wii U version is also currently in development.^[37]

It was announced that version 1.3, the game's third major content update, would be the last which Spinks would work on personally, and that the developers Yorai Omer and Skiphs would take over programming and Whitney Baird (a.k.a. Cenx) would take over as lead designer. Version 1.3 was released on June 30, 2015, adding even more items, events, enemies, bosses, and gameplay features.^[38]

Reception

Terraria has received favorable reviews from critics, with aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic assigning scores of 84% and 83/100 respectively for the Windows version.^[39][40] A review for Destructoid included praise for Terraria as "full of depth".^[45] Another reviewer praised Terraria's integration of some of Minecraft's concepts into two dimensions.^[46]

GameSpot praised Terraria's exploration and feeling of accomplishment but criticized its lack of tutorial or explicit directions.^[1] IGN praised the game, claiming that Terraria "expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure."^[43] Terraria received the #1 of 2011 Indie of the Year Player Choice on IndieDB.^[47]

Despite using 2D graphics, Terraria has been alluded to and described as a Minecraft clone by various video gaming media outlets.^{[43][48][49][50][51][52]}

Sales

Terraria sold 200,000 copies in the nine days following the initial release on Windows, it remained on Steam's top sellers for the first six days of its release.^[53] Within a month Terraria sold 432,000 copies.^[54] As of June 2015, over 12 million copies of Terraria have been sold.^[55]

Sequels

In an October 2013 interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Spinks announced that he was planning Terraria 2.^[56]

Another game set in the Terraria universe, Terraria: Otherworld was announced in February 2015.^[57] Otherworld tasks the player with trying to purify the world of the Corruption. This is to be achieved mainly by finding and activating "purifying towers" that push back the spread of the Corruption. Otherworld will include more strategy and role-playing elements, such as a new tower defense gameplay element, a skill tree, and an actual storyline to follow. The release date is currently set for 2016 for Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.^[58]

References

Notes

Footnotes

External links

• Official website