Support NeoGAF

[kiyomi]

I just hope all my dreams and expectations come true with this one. This is kind of the game I've dreamt of since being a kid. Just a whole, unique universe to explore. Hnnngh.

 

[ys45]

This was definitely one of the most interesting game on this presentation .
Finally a game that is open world scifi where you can visit each planet it's like Starbound but in first person view (and without the building/mining part)

They still don't have estimated release for this game ?

 

[Number_6]

Anyone else have some slight doubts on the scale of this one? They claim infinite worlds. But the trailer showed red grass, blue grass, yellow grass, etc. I think we'll see lots of recycled assets with random colors.

 

[supraman1120]

Anyone else have some slight doubts on the scale of this one? They claim infinite worlds. But the trailer showed red grass, blue grass, yellow grass, etc. I think we'll see lots of recycled assets with random colors.

Procedural world generation....

 

[IcyEyes]

I.can't.wait.for.this.game.

The design of your starship is simply awesome and the reference to Clark and Asimov are something that really mean for any SciFi lovers.

Good job guys and all the best wishes !

 

[E92 M3]

Anyone else have some slight doubts on the scale of this one? They claim infinite worlds. But the trailer showed red grass, blue grass, yellow grass, etc. I think we'll see lots of recycled assets with random colors.

If it's anything like Minecraft (in term of land generation) then I'll be happy.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

my expectations are getting way too high for this game.

Looks wonderful.
If it's going to be Morpheus compatible, I really want this to be the first game I experience in VR.

 

[RetroStu]

I just hope all my dreams and expectations come true with this one. This is kind of the game I've dreamt of since being a kid. Just a whole, unique universe to explore. Hnnngh.

But its not going to be a unique universe to explore though, the planets etc will all be the same except different colours etc. There needs to be something more to it if its going to hook people for more than an hour or two.

 

[Screaming Meat]

But its not going to be a unique universe to explore though, the planets etc will all be the same except different colours etc. There needs to be something more to it if its going to hook people for more than an hour or two.

How do you know that?

If it's going to be Morpheus compatible, I really want this to be the first game I experience in VR.

This or Mirror's Edge.

 

[Azric]

This game looks very good. I remember hearing that they had like 4-5 people working on this. Extreme skill if so. Will definitely buy and support them.

 

[Clockwork5]

I hope there is actually something to do and challenge the player in this one. It looks great and it has obviously been developed by a talented and creative crew but I have some doubts that this title will fall down my alley of interest.

However it turns out, I hope it does well.

 

[BigDug13]

But its not going to be a unique universe to explore though, the planets etc will all be the same except different colours etc. There needs to be something more to it if its going to hook people for more than an hour or two.

You're making a lot of assumptions here about whether or not planets will be unique. Do you think these guys have been working for years to bring you planets with yellow grass, red grass, etc as their "unique planets" claim?

 

[Handy Fake]

But its not going to be a unique universe to explore though, the planets etc will all be the same except different colours etc. There needs to be something more to it if its going to hook people for more than an hour or two.

Hmm.

 

[Lonestar]

I don't think so. This game doesn't have the nostalgia, devoted fans, and depth, that those games do.

With that said, I think this game will be great for what it is, and I will be happy to try it out. At the same time I think some people are a bit naive regarding what a (talented) four man team is able to output. In many ways I don't even think this game is competing with Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous, which perhaps can be a good thing.

I'm just happy that Space Sim games are coming back with a vengeance.

 

[Crispy75]

One thing I don't understand is how they are handling the size of the Universe. Infinite procedural generated universe but every players goal is to get to the middle? How would that work? Also they mention that players can see a map where other players have explored (if those player's chose to share that information). How do you handle a map tool with an infinite generation? Couldn't someone break the game by continually travelling in one direction.

No, because you always just generate the same densely populated world from scratch every time you go there. The actual game world never has to be permanently stored. Minecraft has the problem you describe, because the world has to be stored as it's created. The world of NMS doesn't change its geometry, so it doesn't have to be stored. The only storage requirements are for the map. Who discovered the planet, what the atmosphere's made of etc. Even if 100 billion stars and planets are catalogued, it's still within the storage limits of a simple server.

I'm really not sure about "infinite" though. They've described the progression as "Edge of Galaxy, calm, boring, easy" -> "Centre of Galaxy, busy, exotic, rock-hard". That implies a finite (although incredibly large) space.

As for content variety, I'll repost my thoughts from an earlier thread:

Procedural content is all well and good, but it tends to result in environments that are different in the details, but are thematically uniform. Taking minecraft as an example, you can walk through 100km of Plains biome and never see anything surprising. The generation is constrained by rules: "Hills no steeper than this", "these plants, in this distribution", "this colour of grass". The only true variation comes from the transition to other biomes, whose rules are hand-made.

The big challenge for procgen on this scale is to procedurally generate those rules, to allow for genuinely surprising and new landscapes, whilst preventing "broken" rulesets that result in unplayable or implausible terrain. It's very hard to do. There are so many possible planets out there, so many chemistries, orbits, tectonics, weather systems, biospheres and so on, all of which affect the look of a place. Lots of interesting reading on the topic here: http://vterrain.org/Elevation/Artificial/

The same goes for plants and animals. The systems have to be very very sophisticated, or you'll just end up with Red Fish with Big Fins, Green Fish with Four Fins, and you'll easily see how it's a kit of parts. Spore did excellent work in this regard, allowing all sorts weird and wonderful creatures to be created and animated. This paper details the system they used http://chrishecker.com/Real-time_motion_retargeting_to_highly_varied_user-created_morphologies.

 

[Wasdie]

Personally this is the Game of the Show for me.

I just wish they would give a release date already. I cannot wait for this game.

 

[Steez]

The game does indeed look amazing. I'm just a bit worried about the moment-to-moment gameplay on the surface of a planet. All I have seen so far is just exploration.

 

[Unhandled Exception]

But its not going to be a unique universe to explore though, the planets etc will all be the same except different colours etc. There needs to be something more to it if its going to hook people for more than an hour or two.

You're wrong. The worlds and the lifeforms on them will be procedurally generated. Thinking everything is just a color swap is very ignorant.

 

[KageMaru]

Game looks like it'll be amazing. This game needs to come out sooner rather than later.

 

[Tankshell]

Just willingly put my email address into the newsletter signup box on their official site. I never do that. Like ever. This is a good sign.

 

[Screaming Meat]

The game does indeed look amazing. I'm just a bit worried about the moment-to-moment gameplay on the surface of a planet. All I have seen so far is just exploration.

That would be good enough for me, personally.

 

[Darksol]

I want this game.

 

[BadWolf]

The game does indeed look amazing. I'm just a bit worried about the moment-to-moment gameplay on the surface of a planet. All I have seen so far is just exploration.

That is what I'm hoping its all about.

If it turns out to be another FPS then I'm out.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I think the game does seem to be largely exploration on the surface but in the trailer they showed the guy using a gun. So at least there are chances of battling. Maybe with the violent life forms or other players.

But I need a release date, at least a year. Somebody needs to snatch up this studio and give them the resources they deserve.

 

[Espada]

The game does indeed look amazing. I'm just a bit worried about the moment-to-moment gameplay on the surface of a planet. All I have seen so far is just exploration.

Man, if it's just exploration that will be enough for me. I've grown really tired of shooting heavy games, so this game would be a really nice change of pace. I could wile away hours playing something like this.

 

[Ghost]

FYI, No Mans Sky is the first thing on stage at Gamespot live in 3:30 mins http://www.gamespot.com/e3/live/ wonder if they'll actually be playing something

 

[RetroStu]

How do you know that?

Well i don't for sure but thats what it sounds like.

 

[paperheart]

Yeah, this game looks amazing. Just going from planet, to space, and then to another planet so seamlessly is just jaw dropping.

 

[RetroStu]

You're making a lot of assumptions here about whether or not planets will be unique. Do you think these guys have been working for years to bring you planets with yellow grass, red grass, etc as their "unique planets" claim?

Dude check my first posts in this thread, i said this game blew me away. I'm just trying to be realistic here.

 

[Haunted]

Easily the most impressive game of the show so far from what I've seen.

 

[Majmun]

Still can't believe this is coming to the Ps4. I'm so happy ;_;

 

[J Range]

Is there a reason why the guy doesn't run at all? I'm not sure how fun exploring will be if I have to pain stakingly walk everywhere.

Also, I'm impressed by the scope but am wondering if this is just a showcase or is there actually something to do?

 

[NervousXtian]

Dude check my first posts in this thread, i said this game blew me away. I'm just trying to be realistic here.

Yeah, me and my son were most blown away by this trailer in the overall lackluster Sony conference.

..but after calming down from geeking out... I hope they can have enough hooks to keep you playing once the awe of the systems wear out.

Minecraft has some serious hooks to keep someone coming back... it'll need more than just exploration and basic crafting.

Not really a purpose, but unique enough systems that make you feel like you progress in a real way.

This might be one of those games that blows everyone away for a couple hours.. then only get's pulled out occasionally to show friends.

I hope it lives up to the hype I got... it's such a cool idea.

 

[WanderingWind]

That is what I'm hoping its all about.

If it turns out to be another FPS then I'm out.

Agreed, but there has to be something to the exploration. Some hook that keeps it from being a really amazing tech demo. Some purpose beyond "hey look at the colors." I do not know what that could be, to be honest. Some trading mechanic? Maybe a search for a person among the stars?

We've seen shooting in space already though, so pew pew is a part of the game somehow.

 

[Chev]

I'm just saying that the NMS universe is infinite.And everything upon those planets is unique in an infinite universe.

Elite's universe was, as I recall, still set up procedurally, and the results were made into its set playing area. This is a different kettle of fish.

You're wrong on two counts.

first, it's OK if you don't want to look at the link that explains it as it is very technical, but the gist of it is, as long as you can give it a coordinate in 3D space, elite's generator will spit out an unique sector. Elite 2 being limited to a single galaxy was a gameplay choice, not a technical limitation. Width just 8k x 8k sectors they got something no one can ever chart completely, so going to infinity is trivial (though for practical reasons you may want to limit it to nine billion billion sectors squared) but useless. And if you somehow saw it all there's a further dimension to explore as you can change the seed and get a different universe. That's the thing with procedural generation: going infinite is trivial. See Space Engine for a practical example of an already working practically infinite universe.

Second, NMS is not infinite. As they've already stated in the RPS interview, despite all the PR buzzwords on the site it's taking place in a single galaxy, at the edge of which you start.

 

[metareferential]

No, because you always just generate the same densely populated world from scratch every time you go there. The actual game world never has to be permanently stored. Minecraft has the problem you describe, because the world has to be stored as it's created. The world of NMS doesn't change its geometry, so it doesn't have to be stored. The only storage requirements are for the map. Who discovered the planet, what the atmosphere's made of etc. Even if 100 billion stars and planets are catalogued, it's still within the storage limits of a simple server.

I'm really not sure about "infinite" though. They've described the progression as "Edge of Galaxy, calm, boring, easy" -> "Centre of Galaxy, busy, exotic, rock-hard". That implies a finite (although incredibly large) space.

As for content variety, I'll repost my thoughts from an earlier thread:

Procedural content is all well and good, but it tends to result in environments that are different in the details, but are thematically uniform. Taking minecraft as an example, you can walk through 100km of Plains biome and never see anything surprising. The generation is constrained by rules: "Hills no steeper than this", "these plants, in this distribution", "this colour of grass". The only true variation comes from the transition to other biomes, whose rules are hand-made.

The big challenge for procgen on this scale is to procedurally generate those rules, to allow for genuinely surprising and new landscapes, whilst preventing "broken" rulesets that result in unplayable or implausible terrain. It's very hard to do. There are so many possible planets out there, so many chemistries, orbits, tectonics, weather systems, biospheres and so on, all of which affect the look of a place. Lots of interesting reading on the topic here: http://vterrain.org/Elevation/Artificial/

The same goes for plants and animals. The systems have to be very very sophisticated, or you'll just end up with Red Fish with Big Fins, Green Fish with Four Fins, and you'll easily see how it's a kit of parts. Spore did excellent work in this regard, allowing all sorts weird and wonderful creatures to be created and animated. This paper details the system they used http://chrishecker.com/Real-time_motion_retargeting_to_highly_varied_user-created_morphologies.

I'm really liking your posts on procedural content, and thanks for the interesting links as well.

Can't wait to explore the galaxy.

 

[Jinko]

This could look ridiculous on Morpheus.

Do Want !

 

[Handy Fake]

You're wrong on two counts.

first, it's OK if you don't want to look at the link that explains it as it is very technical, but the gist of it is, as long as you can give it a coordinate in 3D space, elite's generator will spit out an unique sector. Elite 2 being limited to a single galaxy was a gameplay choice, not a technical limitation. Width just 8k x 8k sectors they got something no one can ever chart completely, so going to infinity is trivial (though for practical reasons you may want to limit it to nine billion billion sectors squared) but useless. And if you somehow saw it all there's a further dimension to explore as you can change the seed and get a different universe. That's the thing with procedural generation: going infinite is trivial. See Space Engine for a practical example of an already working practically infinite universe.

Second, NMS is not infinite. As they've already stated in the RPS interview, despite all the PR buzzwords on the site it's taking place in a single galaxy, at the edge of which you start.

Sorry chief, not being ignorant, just don't have time because I'm (meant to be) working, hehe.

Although the bloke said "infinite universe".

Anyway, we'll see. I can't sit and quantify my thoughts at the minute because I'm having to minimise Firefox every 2 seconds lol.

 

[acklame]

Is this playable at E3?

 

[SonnyBoy]

After reading Crispy75's post, I guess my hope to build structures on my homeworld are gone.

It'd be cool if GAF could colonize an entire system of planets. Goodness, that'd be epic.

 

[jblank83]

Anyone else have some slight doubts on the scale of this one?

I have my doubts about how fun it will be. I'm worried it'll fall prey to "Proteus" syndrome: pointless, vapid, boring exploration.

But let's wait to see more before getting too pessimistic.

 

[Steez]

That is what I'm hoping its all about.

If it turns out to be another FPS then I'm out.

Man, if it's just exploration that will be enough for me. I've grown really tired of shooting heavy games, so this game would be a really nice change of pace. I could wile away hours playing something like this.

I'm not saying that I want a shooter, but I want to do something else besides walking around. It's my biggest pet peeve in open world games. As stunning as the game looks, if that's all we can do on a planet, then that's sadly a deal breaker for me.

 

[Cutwolf]

Excited for this, but I'll be shocked if it sees release before the holiday 2015-mid 2016 time frame.

 

[ViviOggi]

This or Mirror's Edge.

RIP

 

[gogoud]

looked stunning. and once they showed other ships coming off FTL it just looked bliss. Really excited for this. Did not like the whole leaving the planet and suddenly in asteroid belt. But... who knows...

 

[SonnyBoy]

I'm not saying that I want a shooter, but I want to do something else besides walking around. It's my biggest pet peeve in open world games. As stunning as the game looks, if that's all we can do on a planet, then that's sadly a deal breaker for me.

Yea... I'm losing interest in this quickly. I think what I want isn't possible.

 

[DrGonzo615]

Proceedural worlds kinda scare me, especially since its a small indie team. How many assets can they mix and match before you basically seem worlds that look very samey but with just color swaps? Or creatures that are almost identical except for a fin on their heads or something?

Im still excited for this game but im just trying to keep my own expectations in check.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Well i don't for sure but thats what it sounds like.

You sounded so certain, which is odd considering no one knows much about it.

RIP

?

 

[a secret-boss]

that Soundtrack I would buy a Special Edition for

Hype for the game.

this needs VR support

 

[maximrace]

I really hope this releases on the X1