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Why i am excited for No Man's Sky

K

kyser73

Member
RedSwirl said:
Been meaning to ask about that. Doesn't Grand Theft Auto also have deep roots in that UK PC game design? And by extension most modern open-world games?
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Yeah, Commodore Amiga was the first GTA platform with the top down view. It was like playing a violent version of Sim City :)

There were a lot of primitive 'open world' games, stretching back to games like 'Lords of Midnight' which while it was static screen & text based still allowed for a degree of wandering around within the world.

There was also a military one called 'Midwinter' on the Amiga that was an early example of a sandbox, insofar as you could tackle missions in any order, lots of freedom of movement & suchlike.
 
V

visiblemode

Member
I keep trying to be excited. I admire the ambition and like the dev. I just haven't hit that tipping point yet. Reviews and impressions are going to play a huge role in my excitement, moreso than any recent game in memory.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
True Fire said:
There's no way NMS can live up to people's expectations. They're too high.
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I'm not expecting anything beyond what's been talked about by Sean Murray, and what's been talked about has been reasonable. People trying to equate this to Spore are really, really reaching.
 
I

ichtyander

Member
kyser73 said:
I'm hyped for this gamers side it'll fulfill the promise muse of the Orginal Elite.

I was 8 or 9 when Elite first appeared on the BBC B computer, loading it from a tape and thinking it amazing that there were 8 galaxies & 2000 star systems all contained in 32k - yes, kilobytes.

It was followed, later, by Frontier, and during that time there were games like Mercenary & Mercenary 2: Escape from Targ, & Starglider 2 which all explored seamless planet-space-planet flight, land structures you could investigate & get out and walk around in the case of Mercenary 2.

NMS has its roots deep in the history of 8 & 16-bit home computing in the UK. Sean's gaming history matches mine and no doubt lots of other older British gamers, so for me this game is as much about revisiting my gaming childhood as it will be about exploring what looks to be an amazing universe, but ncovering lore and being the MC in my own SF adventure story.
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I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments.

There's a wonderful tradition of innovation from the UK, especially during those home computer days. It's that fresh new excitement filled with experimentation at the dawn of a new medium or technology (olden DIY electronics days, early 80s music video beginnings etc.), and 80s home computers were kind of in a bubble of their own, so there was a massive disregard (a lack of knowledge and experience really) of tight, well defined gameplay staples already somewhat set by Japanese game devs, but that's what allowed devs from the UK and parts of Europe to create a different sensibility and approach to game design. The results weren't often great, but there was diversity and it was a good example that things can be done differently, new genres were invented, and more importantly, that the world is always better with more diversity and different outlooks on things.

I feel the gaming industry might've gone in a different direction (not necessarily worse or better, just different) if that whole bubble didn't burst. But on the other hand, that creative spirit lived on and actually influenced the industry a great deal, something that's maybe not mentioned enough nowadays.

I'm not from the UK and I'm definitely not making favorites by any stretch, and there are plenty of insanely talented and influential people and studios from all over the world (and suspiciously a lot from the Nordic countries :) ), but when you look at even an incomplete list of UK based (and spawned) devs, what they've created and how they've influenced the industry, it's a pretty nice resume (sorry in advance for glaring omissions and errors, it's late):
  • Argonaut Games - Starglider, FX Fighter, Star Fox, the Super FX hardware, Croc, Alien: Resurrection, BRender software (used on Carmageddon, Croc, FX Fighter, Independence War)
  • Bizarre Creations - Project Gotham Racing, Geometry Wars, Blur
  • Bullfrog - say what you will about Peter Molyneux, but back in the day these folks made Populous, Syndicate, Magic Carpet, Theme Park and Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper. Pete went and founded Lionhead, but some ex-Bullfroggers founded Mucky Foot Productions and made Urban Chaos and Startopia.
  • Codemasters - shit... Dizzy, Micro Machines, TOCA, Colin McRae, Dirt, I think F1 2009 onwards
  • Core Design - Rick Dangerous, Tomb Raider, Fighting Force
  • Creative Assembly - mainly the Total War series
  • Criterion Games - Burnout and a few later NFS titles
  • Evolution Studios - WRC, MotorStorm and Driveclub
  • Free Radical - TimeSplitters, Second Sight, Haze, Crysis 2 & 3 multiplayer
  • Lionhead Studios - Pete again, this time with Black & White and Fable
  • Media Molecule - LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway, upcoming Dreams
  • Psygnosis/SCE Studio Liverpool - Armour-Geddon, The Adventures of Lomax, Colony Wars, G-Police, Wipeout, various F1s
  • Rare - man... Jetpac, Sabre Wulf, Knight Lore, R.C. Pro Am, Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Blast Corps, Goldeneye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Kameo, Viva Pinata, upcoming Sea of Thieves
  • Rebellion - Alien vs Predator (Jaguar) and Alien versus Predator (PC), Sniper Elite
  • Reflections - Shadow of the Beast, Destruction Derby, Driver, various work on Just Dance, Watch Dogs, The Crew, Tom Clancy's The Division, then Grow Home and the upcoming Grow Up
  • Rockstar Games/DMA Design - Lemmings, Hired Guns, Space Station Silicon Valley, Body Harvest, Wild Metal Country, Grand Theft Auto, The Warriors, Manhunt, Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3
  • Rocksteady Studios - a lot of Argonaut staff came to Rocksteady, made Urban Chaos: Riot Response and the Batman Arkham series
  • SIE London/Team Soho/Psygnosis Camden - Team Buddies, EyeToy R&D, SingStar, PlayStation Home, The Playroom, PlayStation VR Worlds
  • Sumo Digital/Gremlin Interactive/Infogrames Sheffield - plenty of history like the Top Gear games, newer games include OutRun 2006, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing & Transformed, LittleBigPlanet 3, Dead Island 2
  • Team 17 - Alien Breed, Body Blows, Superfrog, Worms
  • Traveller's Tales - Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Twinsanity, Lego games and the founder, Jon Burton actually directed Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite

So what I mean by posting this list that took more time to compile while writing this post than I care to admit, is that what Hello Games are attempting to pull off with No Man's Sky is coming from the same creative pool that spawned the aforementioned wonderful, insanely talented developers, games and technology. They are standing on the shoulders of giants, and I think are inspired by the same spirit of innovation that was ever so present in the early days of game development.

The approach to the technology, sound design, sources of inspiration, it's all been influenced by a design philosophy that's not very present in the games industry these days. Who in their right mind creates a sound generator/synth that simulates the physics of natural voice generation in real time and puts it in a game? Apart from Relic's Homeworld, who's ever really attempted to capture the classic sci-fi look and sensibilities? Or the "weird" keeping information under wraps in today's day and age. There isn't a publisher in the last two decades that would give a developer a shot at creating a big procedural universe with easily approachable gameplay (Spore wasn't really seamless, not to mention other issues), nor was there really a valid attempt from any developer to do it with the amount of detail and fidelity that's apparently in NMS (big props for Elite: Dangerous though).

So I think this game will have a decent amount of "eurojank" in it, but it will finally allow me to relive, or rather finally realize the dreams and visions I had when playing Mercenary or the original Elite. I've played my fair share of space sims, and 90% of them were all about military conflicts, giant, gray and dull steel hulks of metal and the usual problems of Earth and mankind. The dominating sci-fi style, for the past two decades at least, in all media, has been a lot closer to Starship Troopers and the new Battlestar Galactica (not that there's anything wrong with them), than to Star Trek TNG, 2001: A Space Odyssey or Asimov's Foundation series. I've honestly been sick of it for a long time now, so hearing Sean speak about their sources of inspiration, seeing the artbooks in their studio and looking at the gameplay footage of NMS, it's like finally someone remembering all of the good stuff that nobody's touching for some reason.

So as I've said many times before, to me, No Man's Sky is a lot more than a game - it's a technical achievement, a creative feat, a personal genre favorite of mine (both regarding sci-fi and game genres) and one of the few "dream game" projects ever attempted in the history of this industry.

And it also might end up being a shitty game. :)
 
T

The1Ski

Member
Acquiescence said:
I just hope at least half of those 18 quintillion planets are worth exploring.
Click to expand...

I'm going to be very surprised if there's enough variety in the system to make the game last and hold players interest.

I can't help but think about the borderlands series when i hear about 18 quintillion planets. Borderlands had however many 'illions of weapons but that was largely due to very minor part combinations. In reality, you roughly knew what you were getting with each gun manufacturer.

I'm hoping that the planets variation isn't "okay, another cold planet. I'll see these kinds of things". Or "yep, another caveheavy- planet".
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
The1Ski said:
I'm going to be very surprised if there's enough variety in the system to make the game last and hold players interest.

I can't help but think about the borderlands series when i hear about 18 quintillion planets. Borderlands had however many 'illions of weapons but that was largely due to very minor part combinations. In reality, you roughly knew what you were getting with each gun manufacturer.

I'm hoping that the planets variation isn't "okay, another cold planet. I'll see these kinds of things". Or "yep, another caveheavy- planet".
Click to expand...

Here's the thing though: we can't expect EVERY planet to be "interesting" or have lots of cool aliens on it. Hello Games confirmed it's trying to create a sense of rarity with the "really good" planets. We already know 90% of planets in the game will be lifeless, and lush green planets will constitute the top 1%.

What really matters is whether or not players find enough variation often enough to maintain interest. That one really neat, paradise planet is only gonna feel really special if it comes after encountering 20 lifeless rocks.

We also need to think about the points of interest on those planets and in space and if there's going to be enough variety in those. Fairly early on they said each planet is gonna have maybe like half a dozen POIs which could be ruins, crashed ships, and other things that could net resources.
 
dreamstation

dreamstation

Member
Just because the game has a seemingly endless supply of planets to explore doesn't mean the game has to stay fresh and interesting and keep throwing new things our way for the rest of our lives. We will never get to explore every planet in the game, but we WILL exhaust all of the game's mechanics and I'm okay with that. People buy single player games at release for top dollar only to finish them and then shelve them within 10 hours. Here's the opportunity for a game to offer hundreds (thousands, even?) of hours of 'new' content, and people are saying there's not enough?

I'm with you OP. Personally, I can't wait to get in there and start exploring. Hurry up August 10!
 
C

c0Zm1c

Member
The1Ski said:
I'm going to be very surprised if there's enough variety in the system to make the game last and hold players interest.

I can't help but think about the borderlands series when i hear about 18 quintillion planets. Borderlands had however many 'illions of weapons but that was largely due to very minor part combinations. In reality, you roughly knew what you were getting with each gun manufacturer.

I'm hoping that the planets variation isn't "okay, another cold planet. I'll see these kinds of things". Or "yep, another caveheavy- planet".
Click to expand...

Variety becoming meaningless is pretty much unavoidable in loot games like Borderlands though, where for that particular game the variations are of just a tiny set of weapon stats that you will see a great volume of over a very short period of time.

For No Man's Sky the variations are of entire planet's worth of stats that even the most dedicated of players will see only a tiny fraction of - the average player is probably only going to see a few dozen of those 18 quintillion planets. If there is a good amount of variety in just a sample of, say, 100 planets then that's going to be a lot of variety for any given player.

You could help mix things up yourself to an extent too. If you're sick of being on cold worlds, stick to landing on planets closer to their respective star for a while.
 
R

RedSwirl

Junior Member
c0Zm1c said:
Variety becoming meaningless is pretty much unavoidable in loot games like Borderlands though, where for that particular game the variations are of just a tiny set of weapon stats that you will see a great volume of over a very short period of time.

For No Man's Sky the variations are of entire planet's worth of stats that even the most dedicated of players will see only a tiny fraction of - the average player is probably only going to see a few dozen of those 18 quintillion planets. If there is a good amount of variety in just a sample of, say, 100 planets then that's going to be a lot of variety for any given player.

You could help mix things up yourself to an extent too. If you're sick of being on cold worlds, stick to landing on planets closer to their respective star for a while.
Click to expand...

I think because of how quickly you see the dice reroll in other procedurally generated games, people are overestimating how rapidly they'll see new planets and new star systems in NMS. From what we've seen it's probably going to be a much slower pace than even Elite Dangerous.

Depending on what happens it might take hours just to get off the first planet, and another significant amount of time just to get to the next planet over, because of the things you have to get in the meantime: a ship, fuel, maybe the gear you need to reach or survive environments, etc. It might take hours more before you're able to make your first hyperspace jump. You might be stuck in the next solar system for a few more hours depending on how hard and expensive fuel is to get.

People seem to be assuming they'll be rapidly bouncing from system to system. Maybe it makes sense to assume this given what Elite is like, but the Don't Starve-ish gameplay in NMS is probably gonna slow the pace of exploration significantly from what many are expecting.
 
J

Jabba

Banned
Hoje0308 said:
Curiosity and wonder are the reasons I'm interested as well. When 3D games became a thing I realized that, one day, something that looks and plays like NMS might be possible. Pretty cool to think that the thing I've been wanting for ~20 years releases in 3.5 weeks.
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Been waiting with you for who knows how long.
 
N

Nokterian

Member
GamingOblivion said:
yo that would be fucking amazing

i still get chills thinking about the first time I saw that scene in the film
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Since we are talking about i am rewatching it on youtube..i need to see the movie again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7OVqXm7_Pk

Hoje0308 said:
Curiosity and wonder are the reasons I'm interested as well. When 3D games became a thing I realized that, one day, something that looks and plays like NMS might be possible. Pretty cool to think that the thing I've been wanting for ~20 years releases in 3.5 weeks.
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts as well what a time be alive.
 
A

a.wd

Member
Last few weeks i
Have been getting into halo firefight in the evening after the ladies have gone to bed. But this might supplant it for me.

Imagine flying for an hour doing a bit of trading, exploring a galaxy, the stopping on a planet with some interesting architecture that is a relic that has been there a million years before humans crawled out of the mud. Imagine watching a twin sunset on planet made of crystal.

OP you are good people...
 
N

Nokterian

Member
a.wd said:
Last few weeks i
Have been getting into halo firefight in the evening after the ladies have gone to bed. But this might supplant it for me.

Imagine flying for an hour doing a bit of trading, exploring a galaxy, the stopping on a planet with some interesting architecture that is a relic that has been there a million years before humans crawled out of the mud. Imagine watching a twin sunset on planet made of crystal.

OP you are good people...
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Thanks i am just one of those person who interest in space,planets have been since a kid. Watching all those sci fi movies,documentaries,reading books..listening to carl sagan,stephen hawking has always been fantasising about space in general and the what if's being skeptical about it but also turning it into curiosity because people don't have that anymore. Saying not everyone has it but it's an example.

I think a lot of people are missing this..what i have been saying these couple of pages and post is curiosity,exploration,discovery.
 
SirNinja

SirNinja

Member
Bold One said:
please please please dont compare NMS to minecraft
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He's not comparing the gameplay of the games so much as their enormous procedurally generated worlds that invite the player to explore and survive. It's a very fair comparison in that respect.
 
MadYarpen

MadYarpen

Member
Nokterian said:
My inner geek is star wars but also a bit of star trek yeah but mostly because of documentaries,books,sci fi.

But this small film made me go into overdrive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6goNzXrmFs

Hearing Carl Sagan and they used real photo's and images from nasa that's why i am so damn excited.
Click to expand...
music-chills.jpg

Thank you.
 
H

hank_tree

Member
c0Zm1c said:
Variety becoming meaningless is pretty much unavoidable in loot games like Borderlands though, where for that particular game the variations are of just a tiny set of weapon stats that you will see a great volume of over a very short period of time.

For No Man's Sky the variations are of entire planet's worth of stats that even the most dedicated of players will see only a tiny fraction of - the average player is probably only going to see a few dozen of those 18 quintillion planets. If there is a good amount of variety in just a sample of, say, 100 planets then that's going to be a lot of variety for any given player.

You could help mix things up yourself to an extent too. If you're sick of being on cold worlds, stick to landing on planets closer to their respective star for a while.
Click to expand...

What are all the variables exactly?I had just assumed it was animal/ plant life and atmosphere. Is there much more?
 
P

Possumowner

Member
I'm fairly excited,i love the idea behind this,and love what I've seen so far.But I'm keeping expectations in check just so I'm not disappointed.
 
K

kyser73

Member
ichtyander said:
*completely awesome post*
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What a reply! It shouldn't surprise me on a gaming forum that many people have played the same games, but sometimes both the youthfulness & geocentrism on Gaf means it feels like we're few & far between.

I'm fully prepared for NMS to be a huge disappointment - even though I've kept my expectations in check in terms of what is possible and likely to be in the game, it could just be the case it doesn't hang together as a whole.

I think it will though.
 
P

Phoenix944

Member
I'll buy it but I'm not really hyped for it. I feel like past ~10h hours it's going to be boring. I hope I'm wrong tho, that's why I'll try it for myself :p
 
Tanus777

Tanus777

Neo Member
In the vids, the devs are always showing planets full of life, but in the game only 1% of them are that way.
I think a lot of players are gonna be fustrated after visiting dozens of planets with no life or only basic forms of life.
 
N

Nokterian

Member
Tanus777 said:
In the vids, the devs are always showing planets full of life, but in the game only 1% of them are that way.
I think a lot of players are gonna be fustrated after visiting dozens of planets with no life or only basic forms of life.
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I think a lot of players will drive there discovery further said it before in this thread..what if you find a species nobody has ever seen since playing the game? It will be a unique event and unlike anything else. That's the sense of curiosity and discovery and you can brag about to your friends and even the gaf community showing screenshots showing what you have found before anyone else.

But when more people find different species from the smallest of small to the tallest and biggest it will be a unique story every time that is the sense of discovery.

Even today researchers find new species here on earth that we never knew they existed.
 
JayBabay

JayBabay

Member
While I enjoy multiplayer games that don't necessarily revolve around story or a beginning and end, I never got into sandbox style games like Minecraft. This game piqued my interest based on the fact that it was procedural and revolved around Space exploration. But the concerning thing for me was the scope of it was so big that the substance might be lacking in the things that interest me in a game. Meaningful progression, developed story, characters, player interaction.

Like, I don't want it to be a shooter, but at the same time I can't be excited all the time when collecting mats is a large basis which the game revolves around. I could be so wrong about this and I've only done a moderate amount of research on whatever information is available. I'm still optimistic that it can be something I can enjoy and am looking forward to whatever new things are revealed that we still have no idea about.
 
L

Lutherian

Member
If you played Starbound before the true "1.0" (or before the 1.0 unstable), NMS is quite similar. Without the intense crafting options.
 
C

c0Zm1c

Member
hank_tree said:
What are all the variables exactly?I had just assumed it was animal/ plant life and atmosphere. Is there much more?
Click to expand...

Only the developers will know that exactly but everything comes from subsets of a single seed (even small things like textures), so there has to be a lot of variables.

They've talked about the base colours of rock being one, and how that in turn affects what flora and fauna might be found on a planet.

Topography is another. We've seen a few unusual environments over the years in the screenshots and videos, with floating islands in the skies and winding, cylinders of natural rock protruding from the ground and snaking across the land.

It's weighted to get ever more fantastical and strange as we close in on the centre of the universe.
 
B

blackjaw

Member
I'm with you. I love just exploring in open world games...the sense of wonder in Morrowind when you step onto land for the first time. I want that again.
 
S

Seiniyta

Member
Cocaloch said:
I wasn't making a value judgement, as far as I know I am the only person that actually liked the Space phase of Spore..
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Don't worrry. You're not alone. I really liked the space phase of Spore as well. Though despite liking it I was still really dissapointed by it at the same time. (Besides the 'planet is under attack, come save us! which I did mod away)

Exploring the galaxy was really fun, coming across all the planets and creatures but unfortunately I felt like had so many opportunities

Spore Planet editor: It'd been really cool if you could had designed your own planets which other people could explore on. The expansion added 'adventures' but it didn't really fill the same desire. I just wanted to find crazy cool made planets which I could beam down in and in creature phase perspective run around exploring. A lot of the generated planets didn't have as much variation in the terrain so for other people their planets to populate your own would have been amazing.

That's something No Man's Sky already answers for me. Exploring varied, alien worlds with strange creatures but with more to it then Spore phase space ever offered. What No Man's sky is offering exceeded my dreams for a "Spore 2" in terms of exploration.

I already know I'll love No Man's Sky even if mechanically it falters in places since the exploration aspects alone sell it so, so much for me.
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
The1Ski said:
I'm going to be very surprised if there's enough variety in the system to make the game last and hold players interest.

I can't help but think about the borderlands series when i hear about 18 quintillion planets. Borderlands had however many 'illions of weapons but that was largely due to very minor part combinations. In reality, you roughly knew what you were getting with each gun manufacturer.

I'm hoping that the planets variation isn't "okay, another cold planet. I'll see these kinds of things". Or "yep, another caveheavy- planet".
Click to expand...

The game isn't about visiting tons of planets and finding them interesting though. Hopefully there will be layers of gameplay to provide depth and longevity

eg short term you explore your home planet and system a lot, finding resources and crafting stuff. You're pretty weak and have a crappy ship so its hard going.

Medium term you're jumping between planets and systems, you're a bit more capable but tricky planets can still pop up and cause problems with cold/heat, and there is still some exploring

longer term you're more focused on getting toward the centre, and efficiently finding resources to maximise jump distance. You're now maybe getting embroiled in fighting with factions or pirates as your tech is good enough to attract attention.

All we've really seen in demos is that very intimate, planet level exploration mostly.
 
I

IvorB

Member
Yes, space exploration is exciting but the hype and promises of this industry have a way of not panning out. Something so special in pre-release footage and your imagination can turn out to be something pretty mundane in reality. For that reason I would always temper my enthusiasm for these grand new game concepts until the thing is out for people to see and play. Sorry to be a wet blanket.
 
Wonko_C

Wonko_C

Member
mrlion said:
The only thing I fear now that they mentioned that the game is only 5 GB and there are going to be 18 quintillion or whatever planets, is that there is not going to be any uniqueness to the planets and its going to start becoming repetitive. Yeah, having that many planets is cool but...doesn't really matter if they have the same stuff to do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's my experience with procedurally generated games. It all looks like the same basic building blocks arranged in different patterns, the sense of sameness kicks in fast.
 
Woo-Fu

Woo-Fu

Banned
bitbydeath said:
It's all constructed through math, and the math is the same for everyone. Nothing random.
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Uhh, the math is the same for every minecraft world too, but each of them start with a different seed to process with that math.

Does NMS not do something similar? If I start a new game is there always going to be System X, Y units from start, with exactly the same everything? That would be disappointing.
 
T

travisbickle

Member
Wonko_C said:
Yeah, that's my experience with procedurally generated games. It all looks like the same basic building blocks arranged in different patterns, the sense of sameness kicks in fast.
Click to expand...

It doesn't really work that way for NMS, well in particular with terrain generation.

The terrain is generated through mathematical noise, understandable by the computer but not by us. And also why the data is small, it's numbers on the disc. All that you see is generated on the fly and not stored anywhere.

With the image below (you can see it better in the video about 30 seconds in), the terrain has hills and tube-like rocks coming out of the ground, can you spot a pattern?

z9l3AJz.jpg


Sean describes the creation as chaotic, it's up to the point where he doesn't know how new algorithms and mathematical patterns are going to change the universe.
 
B

Bubba_Sparks

Member
I hope it turns out good!

Though I'll be there day one to experience it first hand regardless. They have me sold based on the scope of it alone, but I think that it's easy to see engineering that scope has potential pitfalls. I love open world games, but I've always felt the most handcrafted games to be the ones I'm most fond of.

Morrowind and Oblivion offer a great comparison of handcrafted versus procedural generation used to increase the scale of the game. I've always felt the handcrafted world of Morrowind managed to feel more alive and personal, while the procedural systems of Oblivion kind of sanitized the province of Cyrodill by comparison.

I think the gameplay of No Man's Sky might fall into this trap. Nothing shown in the videos so far looks particularly compelling. I'd say exploration offers the best potential, but who knows how many planets you visit before it starts to feel the same. Ground combat looks dull, so I can only hope the space side is more fleshed out and interesting.

I just hope they have found a way to merge procedural generation with compelling and fleshed out gameplay loops.
 
N

NeoRausch

Member
travisbickle said:
It doesn't really work that way for NMS, well in particular with terrain generation.

The terrain is generated through mathematical noise, understandable by the computer but not by us. And also why the data is small, it's numbers on the disc. All that you see is generated on the fly and not stored anywhere.

With the image below (you can see it better in the video about 30 seconds in), the terrain has hills and tube-like rocks coming out of the ground, can you spot a pattern?

z9l3AJz.jpg


Sean describes the creation as chaotic, it's up to the point where he doesn't know how new algorithms and mathematical patterns are going to change the universe.
Click to expand...

That looks very.... neural. Like braincells. Crazy.
 
Handy Fake

Handy Fake

Member
travisbickle said:
It doesn't really work that way for NMS, well in particular with terrain generation.

The terrain is generated through mathematical noise, understandable by the computer but not by us. And also why the data is small, it's numbers on the disc. All that you see is generated on the fly and not stored anywhere.

With the image below (you can see it better in the video about 30 seconds in), the terrain has hills and tube-like rocks coming out of the ground, can you spot a pattern?

z9l3AJz.jpg


Sean describes the creation as chaotic, it's up to the point where he doesn't know how new algorithms and mathematical patterns are going to change the universe.
Click to expand...

When they zoom in a bit, you can see two sentinals to the left, and your ship at the bottom. All tiny. Those rock formations are huge.

0mTvgUr.jpg

EDIT: And those craters look class.
 
L

Lutherian

Member
The first time I played Elite, I was like (after learning how NOT to open fire randonmly, ask for permission and use the thrusters) :

"Oh... Am I really leaving the planet ? I mean, for real ?! I'm in space now ?! Sure I can't go to any other planet... oh shit... I can. This is incredible.".

I've been bored as hell on Elite Dangerous, don't want to buy the Horizon addon, and Star Citizen... well, lol.

The only recent game that gave me a sense of wonder like the first Elite was Starboun (and I just played the latest unstable version, it kicks so much asses !).

So, No Man's Sky seems like the perfect mix between Starbound and a more "arcade" Elite, witch is perfect for me.

I'm sad that there's no real story in NMS while Starbound is getting a nice one for 1.0 (and already have a big lore for each races) but in the same time, I want to go in space, I want to explore. EXPLORE. And at this time, in 3D, only Elite, Frontier Elite and Elite 3 gave me satisfaction of a real open universe where you can explore planets and space without any transition.

NMS is quite like a pioneer for this era of gaming, and maybe Elite Horizons is better at this or Star Citizen, if it comes closes to what Roberts promised, will crush NMS (I'm a backer of SC).
 
C

Cheesecakebobby

Banned
I simply don't believe that quote that 90% of planets are devoid of life. I feel like they already revised that statement to something along the lines of a good number of planets will be harsh environments with little life. They have showed us a video with several planets from one solar system for example, and all had life to some degree, so unless that system had 50 planets and they only chose the five that had life, or that solar system was an incredible anomaly, I don't think the quote is accurate any more, if it ever was.

It's fine by me though. It would be very boring to land on ten planets and only find life on an average of one.
 
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