Thanks for sharing the "roadmap," Jon, I nearly forgot about it. That helps show that there is still work to be done with the game. It's been a long time since I looked at it the first time, so I'm not sure how much has changed since then. Many areas do seem to be nearly complete.

I've apparently spent 170 hours into the game and I enjoyed it the first time around. At one point, I lost reason to keep going and playing, but knowing that the game's progression would change. So far, despite the issues I posted above, I really haven't had much trouble playing the game. Those issues were easily resolved. As for it's development, I think of it as a beta and a pretty good one.

Yes, I've gotten my money's worth! It cost me a whole $0. As for game play/progression, I'm not sure what you mean exactly. But, I usually do the tutorial stuff and then craft what I can or want, especially weapon and armor upgrades. Eventually this process requires exploration of more difficult areas (planets in other sectors). It didn't seem to take very long to finally gain the highest gear and therefore diminished my desire to continue further exploration.

So far, my biggest pet peeve with Starbound is the new death penalty. When you die, you lose an amount of pixels and drop all the ore you were holding. Supposedly, you can go back to the spot and pick it back up, but it also, supposedly, despawns rather quickly. This is something I wish I could turn off.

I've recreated my character and world a few times for numerous reasons. The new death penalty alone is something that takes some time to get used to and therefore alter your strategy. So far, I haven't found very much copper, iron, or higher grade ore. I think most of the time, I end up finding bars in a chest.

Recently, I noticed that stairs were invisible and then I noticed that they became visible again with the new "nightly build." I thought that was a bit of a quick fix, but I also keep in mind the purpose of the "nightly builds" and what developers are doing with them. Still, so far, the game seems pretty stable as it has since I first started playing it.

I recently created a new character and world in Terraria. I got so far as having platinum armor. I've fought the Eye a couple of times, but it always ran away as night was ending. It's interesting to see the little changes since the last time I played it for a long time. I'm interested in new content and also wishing all versions could have the same content, or at least let us on the PC have the console content, too. =)

Ugh, this game has gotten brutal! Today I have been completely unable to find any vines at all! These are needed to create bandages. I can't tell you how many times today I've deleted my character (which is now an in-game option) and recreated a new one. Still, I find the planets to seem to have no open caves near the surface. I thought that maybe I would find some on another planet, but to get my ship repaired I need Core Fragments, which are supposedly very far down beneath the planet's surface. I haven't found any yet, but I haven't gotten very deep yet as I'm finding that I have to mine my own way down looking for caves. This is probably one of those "nightly build" issues where bugs and issues are to be expected.

Another issue I've found is that the manual doesn't work right. You can click to read something, but you'll only see the very bottom of the text, not the full text. I've already said it, but I have to say it again, I hate the new death penalty, particularly that you drop the ore you were holding. It is the reason I have begun to back up my character and universe folders. Kind of like how I did with Minecraft, where I constantly backed up and reverted to backups upon death.

I'm thinking about posting in the forums about these issues, although they may already be known. When I first tried to play it today, it crashed. It would not load my character. Although I searched for a resolution to the particular error I was having, I found that deleting my character resolved the issue.

Still, I keep playing. I want to see how the game has changed. I like the feeling I have now that I'm participating in the beta version of the game now that updates are much more frequent with the "nightly builds." This has peaked my interest in the game and given me more reason to play it.

Yeah, I mean at least they came out right and said that. I do expect some things may be broken. Some times it seems minor and doesn't really matter and sometimes it just bites. I've found an underground cave system connected to the usual underground "base" that I've been finding. While exploring one section of the cave, I noticed there were no vines hanging from the cave ceilings like usual. Near-surface caves seem to have pretty much vanished. Originally, they weren't so hard to find as there were multiple cave openings on the surface. Now, I can't even find one. Maybe it's a world-generation issue that will be resolved soon.

It's official. I have spent only 1 hour more playing Terraria than Starbound. Steam says I've spent 203 hours in Starbound now. It's kind of hard to believe, but then I think the counter starts when the launcher is opened, not when you click to finally get in the game.

I've spent a lot of time lately playing Starbound with the nightly builds. I've been following some messages on the forums about them as well, particularly regarding issues I'm having. Yesterday, I finally was able to get some fiber from thorny bushes deep underground where I also finally found some core fragments (needed to repair ship). With my ship repaired, it was time to move on to another planet, hopefully one that contained vines for fiber farming.

Unfortunately, that's about as far as I got. I traveled to one planet, some how completely ignoring the danger level and was killed quickly by aliens. After repairing the ship, the computer tells you to check out a gate. It seems it was referring to an outpost, there are currently two of these in my system. Unfortunately, beaming to the surface is basically a death wish as it is made up almost entirely of lava with no safe place to land and no room to move. The player can then die or beam back to the ship. Sometimes, beaming to the surface of an outpost also crashes the games. Sometimes, also, it will be completely void except for stars in the background. So, while outposts have been created or added, they are currently broken.

Outposts are now important for game progression. Also, in order to exit the current system, the player must repair the ship's FTL drive with moonstone. I tried to fly to another planet, but the ship kept moving or "jumping." It made the sound that it makes when it finally arrives to the planet, but it didn't stop or land.

It seems to me that the nightly builds are released at 2am EST, so I look forward to new updates. In fact, I think I now have more reason to look forward to them in hopes that the major issues I've found are fixed. Also, I'd like to note that I'm not trying to use this space to complain about the game, more of that I'm reporting the progress of the game regarding the new nightly builds. =)

While I've complained about the lack of near-surface caves and vines, I finally found some vines growing in a cave. They just aren't as common as they were. It also dawned on me to farm for plant fiber. This has been successful and cool because I hadn't really bothered with farming much until I needed plant fiber.

I read that the infinite FTL jump bug was fixed, so I'm hoping to be able to visit another planet. I already know where some Core Fragments are, I just created a silver pickaxe to mine them. I believe outposts and asteroid belts are still death traps, from continued reading of posts in the forums. Gates have apparently appeared, too.

While much of the information about each planet seems to be missing, outposts are no longer death traps. On some of them, there appears to be a gate, but nothing of use. Others looked like what you'd expect in a space-age outpost with a fuel station and NPCs. Other than storing items, I'm not sure that anything is useful in them yet, but it's cool to see some progress.

I seem to have unlocked some other necessary items, like a Metal Working Station, which help in crafting better gear and using better materials. So, today's nightly build seems to be showing some improvements.

I've spent 25 hours in the game so far. The tutorial is helpful, but it never mentions restoring your health points. I've done some research and it seems that this is either not yet implemented or there is only one thing that can do that. I find this to be a major set back. Therefore, death is frequent. However, you get regenerated back at your spawning point, which is a Cryopod (http://edge-of-space-game.wikia.com/wiki/Cryopod). By using this station (I use a right-click), you can add Cryo Rods (http://edgeofspace.gamepedia.com/Cryo_Rod), which essentially become your "lives." Once you run out of Cyro Rods, you are given a penalty for dying.

One thing that's not great about the Cryopod is that it cannot be moved nor can you remove the tiles beneath it. This seemed important, because when creating your base, you need to put other machinery on top of and around player-created tiles, not ground, such as a clay wall. I've created a flooring with clay wall along with walls and a ceiling. I also used clay wall to replace the background tiles, which was easy to do by pressing the Tab key.

Once you get a Command Control Center (http://edgeofspace.gamepedia.com/Command_Control_Center) craft, you can press B to see the range of its connected tiles. This is important for placing other machines as they will need to be connected to it. I've learned that by building machines closer together and in a bit of a small, square, two-floor structure works best. At one point, I had a machine that couldn't work because it wasn't getting connected or enough CPU. I think it needed to be better placed and I needed more upgrades.

As for progressing, aliens drop consumable items which increase a variety of your character's statistics. Increasing these unlocks new "research" and makes additional items available for crafting. So, killing aliens becomes important. Other upgrades can be unlocked by accessing other "pod" looking structures that are located some where within the world.

After a while, I created a new world because I needed more materials like aluminum and I wasn't finding more in my world. Granted, I later found more materials in my world, but it seemed as though there were not enough around. The world is "shattered" and is pretty much contained of rock formations of different sizes. Some have caves and some are like small stepping stones. There are are also right and left edges of the world. Going further down can cause you to fall to your death or become exposed to radiation. These areas can often be "off-limits" until further armor upgrades are obtained.

Although killing aliens is needed in order to obtain a lot of upgrades, this task has become harder since the latest patch. The developers have added or re-added creatures, which are more dangerous. This has made the game more difficult and challenging, which can be fun and dangerous.

Crafting recipes aren't extremely picky. Every available material is useful, including dirt. I've often collected a lot of dirt and have used it to help make things such as torches. Dirt can be used in just about every recipe, which is definitely helpful when needing resources. Unfortunately, other resources like aluminum aren't as common, but still needed.

So far, I've created a new world or character a few times. It has been a learning experience as I'm still trying to learn the game. I'm not sure how far it will progress, but I look forward to seeing more.