• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

No Man’s Sky Wins Innovation Award at GDC 2017

pcostabel

pcostabel

Gold Member
From GameRant:

In a move that is sure to draw a fair share of raised eyebrows, the GDC 2017 Awards have given No Man’s Sky its award for Innovation. The space exploration game beat out the likes of The Witness, Firewatch, and the extremely popular Pokemon GO for the title.
...

While there will be plenty of criticism thrown towards Game Developers Choice Awards for its selection of No Man’s Sky, it’s important to point out that the voters were recognizing the technology behind Hello Games’ release, not necessarily the quality of its content. Since its release in August of last year, No Man’s Sky has been nothing if not contentious, and this award will likely continue that conversation.

Looking strictly at No Man’s Sky’s innovation, there are plenty of impressive elements to the game. As we note in our No Man’s Sky review, the way in which the game procedurally generated a vast galaxy with unique planets and creatures is staggering. Of course, under further examination it became clear that the game did rely on familiar patterns and the variety started to disappear.

...

Still, there’s no doubt that No Man’s Sky’s legacy will be looked at from two perspectives. On the one hand, the technology is impressive and now award-winning, but on the other its gameplay may not have been all gamers built it up to be in their heads. Perhaps the game might eventually get there, though, as Hello Games seemingly has more content updates in the works.

No Man’s Sky is available now for PC and PS4.
Click to expand...
 
S

Shikoba

Member
They deserved it. I wasn't crazy about the game in the end, but the technology behind it was very cool regardless.
 
W

wildfire

Banned
I actively dislike No Man's Sky and will always call out anyone who wants to give it a Game of the Year accolade. But this isn't the first time No Man's Sky has won the innovation category and both times this award is correct.

Hello Games did innovate on procedural coding. They also totally squandered what they built which is why it's never GOTY worthy.
 
C

Cymbal Head

Banned
Rabble rabble rabble

I enjoyed the buckets of time I spent in NMS and will probably go back every time there's a major update
 
Z

Zephyrettes

Member
It definitely deserves it. Despite not playing it for to long, I was quite amazed with the game design. Will revisit this game down the road.
 
M

magnetic

Member
Pokemon GO was a global craze for a few months and actually brought the concept of augmented reality to the masses. People gathered outside and communicated with strangers.

I don't see how this is somehow less innovative than "here's a trillion planets but they kinda all look the same after five hours".

Unless it's mostly about the underlying tech and not what the game actually accomplished.
 
D

DrArchon

Member
Certainly fits the bill. The tech behind NMS is super impressive and worthy of praise.

Not sure why some of the other games listed were nominated. Overwatch and Firewatch? Really? Nothing about either of them seemed particularly innovative to me. Maybe they just needed names to fill the list with.
 
I

isaacnukem

Member
Noctis did it earlier, but I do appreciate how No Man's Sky brought it to the masses, and it showed the world that there's a hunger within a lot of people to explore the universe. That's awesome in my book.
 
Whompa02

Whompa02

Member
I think at its core it did some things and pitched some concepts and ideas that can be fleshed out with a better developer, but I suppose if you ignore the actual execution of the product, then you can definitely say it innovated in design.

Shame the actual product is pretty mediocre, but the design was good.

Should not have sold an idea at 60 dollars though.
 
S

SlickShoes

Member
magnetic said:
Pokemon GO was a global craze for a few months and actually brought the concept of augmented reality to the masses. People gathered outside and communicated with strangers.

I don't see how this is somehow less innovative than "here's a trillion planets but they kinda all look the same after five hours".

Unless it's mostly about the underlying tech and not what the game actually accomplished.
Click to expand...

Maybe you are looking at it from a consumer point of view and not whoever judges the Game Developers Conference?

None of the stuff here is for the public or the consumer.
 
V

Venfayth

Member
magnetic said:
Pokemon GO was a global craze for a few months and actually brought the concept of augmented reality to the masses. People gathered outside and communicated with strangers.

I don't see how this is somehow less innovative than "here's a trillion planets but they kinda all look the same after five hours".

Unless it's mostly about the underlying tech and not what the game actually accomplished.
Click to expand...

Because it's basically a copy paste of a game that has done it before, but with a much more well known brand.
 
R

rochellepaws

Member
In what sense were procedurally generated planets along a recognised pattern innovative and more impressive than the many PS2 era games with randomly generated dungeons?
 
P

Prophet Steve

Member
rochellepaws said:
In what sense were procedurally generated planets along a recognised pattern innovative and more impressive than the many PS2 era games with randomly generated dungeons?
Click to expand...

Random generated dungeons usually are automatic room linkers.

Which is a bit different than generated universes and creatures.
 
V

Vintage

Member
Is there any developer's presentation about NMS's technology? The core idea is definitely innovative, but i think implementation is severely lacking.

daveo42 said:
Even if you didn't like it or their messaging, NMS did take procedural generation to a completely different level than what was previously done. I'd like to eventually see a fully fleshed out game using improved maths and resources, but I'm one of the people who enjoyed the hours I spent playing NMS to begin with.
Click to expand...

Space Engine not only maps most of the galaxy we know, but generates what is uncharted way, way more accurate than NMS does.
 
D

daveo42

Banned
Even if you didn't like it or their messaging, NMS did take procedural generation to a completely different level than what was previously done. I'd like to eventually see a fully fleshed out game using improved maths and resources, but I'm one of the people who enjoyed the hours I spent playing NMS to begin with.
 
G

Griss

Member
It's a bad game, but this award is fully deserved five times over.

rochellepaws said:
In what sense were procedurally generated planets along a recognised pattern innovative and more impressive than the many PS2 era games with randomly generated dungeons?
Click to expand...

If this is a real question you didn't play the game.

The algorithm threw up some of the most astonishing 'space art' you could believe. And blasting off from a planet and flying to another without loading screens was mindbending.
 
F

Ferr986

Member
magnetic said:
Pokemon GO was a global craze for a few months and actually brought the concept of augmented reality to the masses. People gathered outside and communicated with strangers.

I don't see how this is somehow less innovative than "here's a trillion planets but they kinda all look the same after five hours".

Unless it's mostly about the underlying tech and not what the game actually accomplished.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what this award is.

Also, Pokemon GO is Ingress with well, Pokemons. Nothing innovating about it, even if it was a success like no other. But again, this is not an award about successes.

rochellepaws said:
In what sense were procedurally generated planets along a recognised pattern innovative and more impressive than the many PS2 era games with randomly generated dungeons?
Click to expand...

If you played NMS you already know this is nowhere comparable.
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
The idea is an amazing one. It was just unfortunate that Hello Games did not have the chops to deliver on the promise of it.
 
L

LukasTaves

Member
I dunno, procedurally generated galaxy is nice in theory, but the end result was a bunch of look a like planets and creatures that are obvious body part swaps, so the result is way less impressive than it sounds.
 
M

MikeyB

Member
It is kind of shitty of them to go eat dinner instead of taking part in the awards. So much for celebrating the achievements of your industry.

Maybe there were mitigating factors like time differences, bad schedules or whatever, but that's on them to manage.

I like the game, don't regret spending $60 for what I got, but it was definitely not what I thought I was getting. Don't know enough about proc gen to say whether it was innovative.

I really do hope that it leads to a recognition that space-based games are a viable product. It's my favorite genre and has been limited to the PC market for too long.
 
S

SlickShoes

Member
LukasTaves said:
I dunno, procedurally generated galaxy is nice in theory, but the end result was a bunch of look a like planets and creatures that are obvious body part swaps, so the result is way less impressive than it sounds.
Click to expand...

What an amazing technical analysis of the systems behind it, well done.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
Is this like where people argue that the Star Wars prequels were brave because they tried something new? Sure, they went in a different direction to the prequel trilogy, but they were shit so does it matter?
 
F

Ferr986

Member
Triggerhappytel said:
Is this like where people argue that the Star Wars prequels were brave because they tried something new? Sure, they went in a different direction to the prequel trilogy, but they were shit so does it matter?
Click to expand...

Irrelevant, this is not an award for a game being good or bad, just about it's tech.
 
M

MikeyB

Member
Triggerhappytel said:
Is this like where people argue that the Star Wars prequels were brave because they tried something new? Sure, they went in a different direction to the prequel trilogy, but they were shit so does it matter?
Click to expand...

Google. Maybe 13 seconds. From the GDC website,
The Innovation Award recognize games that demonstrate true innovation, advance the state of the art, and push the boundaries of games as an expressive medium.

It is about the tech underneath the hood and the ambitious scope of the game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Baldur's Gate 3 Wins Game of The Year at GDC 2024
News Hype
3
407
manfestival replied
  • Poll
Rate The Game Awards 2023
News 2 3
107
5K
Shakka43 replied
TGA is not getting better: Where is the gameplay related awards?
Opinion News Event
39
2K
Trazyn the Infinite replied
IGN: Phil Spencer Has Now Been Head of Xbox for 10 Years; We Look Back at His First Decade
Opinion Analysis 2 3
130
7K
ZehDon replied
  • Poll
PLAYSTATION 6: Potential Innovations, Features, Business Strategies & More (Speculation)
Opinion Analysis Platform 2 3 4
181
13K
hussar16 replied
Top Bottom