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|url=http://kotaku.com/5805747/minecraft-links-help-indie-game-sell-200000-copies-in-nine-days |work=Kotaku |date=May 26, 2011 |accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref> It remained number one on Steam for the first six days of its release.

Gameplay

Terraria is noted for its similarity to Minecraft and classic exploration-adventure titles such as Metroid. Basic gameplay features day & night cycles, nocturnal & subterranean attackers, world-building elements, and character advancement. The game has a tile-based graphical style reminiscent of the 16-bit sprites found on the SNES.

At character creation, each PC has a copper axe, a copper pickaxe, and a copper shortsword. They start out with 100 health. When the character first spawns in a new world, an NPC, the Guide, appears nearby to explain the basics of gameplay.

There are three character difficulties: Softcore, Mediumcore, and Hardcore. They vary only in death penalties. In Softcore, characters drop half their coins. In Mediumcore, characters drop all their items including coins and ammo. In Hardcore, characters drop all their items and become ghosts, unable to alter the world. After disconnecting the ghost character is removed from the selection screen.

Enemies

At night, different creatures may spawn, such as Zombies and Demon Eyes, who will constantly attack the character until morning. At dawn, they all run away, even if they are still attacking the character. Daytime creatures are limited to gentler slimes. However, different biomes may contain powerful monsters including giant worms and hornets, while enemies progressively get harder as you travel deeper. Each night there is a one in nine chance there will be a Blood Moon. Blood Moons spawn more enemies and give zombies the ability to open doors, as well as many other subtle changes, like NPC dialogue and shop inventory.

Characters may also summon powerful boss monsters, such as the Eye of Cthulhu or the Eater of Worlds. Independently of summoned bosses, each map has a dungeon that contains rare items and unusual enemies, and can only be safely entered after defeating the Skeletron boss guarding the dungeon on that map. Defeating the Wall of Flesh turns the current world into hard mode, which contains new enemies, blocks, biomes, items, and more. Hard mode bosses are mechanical versions of the original bosses.

Unique features

Beyond basic gameplay features, Terraria has several elements not present in the games it takes its inspiration from. By completing specific goals (such as defeating a boss, or gaining an extra heart), characters can attract NPCs to occupy structures or rooms they have built, including the Merchant, Dryad, Demolitionist, Arms Dealer, Clothier, Nurse, Mechanic, Wizard, Goblin Tinkerer, and Santa Claus. Santa Claus is only available during the Christmas holiday season (December 15-31). Characters may then buy equipment with coins gained from defeating monsters, selling items, breaking pots, or finding treasure chests hidden within the world. Each map also contains generated biomes with unique monsters and surroundings, such as the Underworld (a lava-filled chthonic area filled with demons and skeletal serpents), the Corruption (a dangerous, diseased wasteland full of deadly creatures and chasms full of rare items), deserts, and jungles above and below ground.

Random events may occur in the course of play, such as the Blood Moon, which increases the number of monsters out at night and allows some to enter structures, and the Goblin Invasion, which sends a goblin army to lay siege to the characters' houses. Meteorites can fall randomly during gameplay, generating meteorite ore. Events can also be caused by destroying shadow orbs in corrupted map areas (biomes) and creating certain boss-summoning items near demon altars, amongst others. It is possible for some bosses to spawn randomly.

Resource gathering

Player characters primarily gather resources in Terraria using three basic tools. The solid soil- and brick-based blocks which make up the two-dimensional world can be mined using a pickaxe, trees and certain other structures can be cut using an axe, and background wall tiles, fixtures (such as crafting stations), and other "placed" objects can be deconstructed with a hammer. The speed with which each tool can be used to harvest resources from the environment depends on the quality of the material the tool is made from and the modifier applied to that item. Wooden and Copper tools (low-quality materials) harvest resources very slowly, but tools made out of higher-quality material (Demonite ore, e.g.) can harvest most resources in one or two swings. Thus, as characters acquire better tools, their rate of potential resource acquisition also increases. Reforging via the goblin tinkerer will give a random modifier to the item at a cost of coins. Characters can also obtain resources from slain enemies, from within chests and clay pots found underground, and from merchant NPCs.

Harvested resources can be crafted into new items and equipment through the inventory screen by standing in front of the appropriate crafting station and selecting the appropriate recipe, provided one is carrying the correct ingredients with them for that recipe. As long as the necessary ingredients are present, new items can be made just by clicking their recipe, as opposed to the often-compared game, Minecraft, in which one must visualize and 'draw' the item with the ingredients. There are several types of crafting stations, and most items must be created at a specific crafting station. Some important and powerful items are only available via crafting. If provided with a possible ingredient, the Guide lists all possible items that can be crafted from that ingredient—or players may mix and match items to discover new recipes.

Development

Terraria was developed by Re-Logic, with development starting in January 2011. The game was released on May 16, 2011. Re-Logic is composed of Andrew Spinks, who designed and programmed the game, and Finn Bryce, who along with Spinks did the graphic design for the game. Terraria was the first game that either of the two had produced. The music was composed by Scott Lloyd Shelley through his Resonance Array studio. As of February 2012, the developers announced that they would not be continuing active development, but will be releasing a final bug-fix patch.

Reception

Terraria has received favorable reviews with an 83/100 metascore on Metacritic. A review for Destructoid included praise for Terraria as "full of depth". Gameblog.fr reviewer Fumble gave the game four out of five stars. Another reviewer praised Terraria's integration of some of Minecraft's concepts into two-dimensions. GameZone gave the game a 9 out of 10. GameSpot praised Terraria's exploration and feeling of accomplishment but criticised its lack of tutorial or explicit directions. Terraria received the #1 of 2011 Indie of the Year Player Choice.

See also

• Spelunky
• Clonk

References

1. Cifaldi, Frank (May 25, 2011). "2D Word-of-Mouth Hit Terraria Sells 200K in Nine Days". Gamasutra. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
2. Devore, Jordan (2011-04-25). "Minecraft in 2D, you say? Terraria looks legit". Destructoid. Retrieved 2011-05-22.
3. Geere, Duncan (2011-05-18). "Terraria offers two-dimensional mining, exploring and giant eyeballs". Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved 2001-05-22.
4. McWhertor, Michael (2011-05-13). "Somewhere Between Super Metroid and Minecraft Lies the Intriguing Terraria". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
5. Copper Sword added in update V1.05: http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/1-0-5-changelog.33191/
6. http://www.terraria.org/about.html
7. http://www.resonancearray.com/news.ews
8. My Fellow Terrarians
9. "Terraria for PC Reviews, Ratings, Credits and More". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
10. Devore, Jordan (May 25, 2011). "Impressions: Terraria". Destructoid. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
11. Fumble (May 27, 2011). "Terraria, le test sur PC". Gameblog.fr. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
12. Castelli, Stefano (May 23, 2011). "Un tris di mini-recensioni". Videogame.it. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
13. http://pc.gamezone.com/reviews/item/terraria/
14. Mc Shea, Tim (31/5/2011). "Terraria Review, Terraria PC Review" (HTML). Review. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. "Space StationRoom With a View". Indie DB.

External links

• Official website
• Official wiki

• 2011 video games
• Indie video games
• Open world video games
• Survival video games
• Side-scrolling video games
• Windows games
• Article Feedback 5