Support NeoGAF

[molnizzle]

Cool beans. That was the main thing I was worried about although it would have been neat from a simulation perspective. Exploring 10,000 Mercury's would get old really fast but it sounds like they've made concessions to make it easier to find the more complex/interesting planets. I don't mind selecting which planet in a system I want to explore (need resources on barren world vs. exploring a life-bearing one), but I wouldn't want to be in a situation where it would take hours to even find a system containing non-barren planets.

Also I'm pretty sure there are no gas giants in the game. Solid planets only.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

90% of the planets are barren (but are richer in rarer elements). 10% have some level of life on them. Of that 10%, 10% of those are the kind of lush "utopian" worlds seen in the trailers.

Right but what I'm talking about is how those proportions are distributed (if at all). If realistically distributed, then players should never expect to see anything but barren planets. You could fly to dozens of systems over the course of dozens of hours and just see Mercury or Mars equivalents forever. That would not be very fun, engaging, or interesting. Would anyone play Terraria/Minecraft if it was uniform and empty 90% of the time?

However, if each system is guaranteed to have a life bearing planet (or whatever series of conditions or variables one might choose), then players at least have reassurances that they'll actually have something to reliably 'explore' or 'interact' with. Based on the trailers I'd hope they're seeding it with more forethought than just 90/10/1 splits. Otherwise they will be in a for a rude awakening based on the marketing which is giving off the opposite impression.

Also I'm pretty sure there are no gas giants in the game. Solid planets only.

It's too bad but I'm not sure how you would engage with gas giants outside of just harvesting the gases with your ship so I can understand why they left them out. It would still be neat to see them even if you couldn't interact with them though.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's too bad but I'm not sure how you would engage with gas giants outside of just harvesting the gases with your ship so I can understand why they left them out. It would still be neat to see them even if you couldn't interact with them though.

Would have been neat for the moons to be explorable.

 

[Codiox]

Yes

Source?

 

[somecrazymember]

Are there moons?

 

[Karspankey]

On PS4?

Source?

IGN's 21 minute gameplay video and yes, PS4

Are there moons?

Yep

 

[eyeball_kid]

Right but what I'm talking about is how those proportions are distributed (if at all). If realistically distributed, then players should never expect to see anything but barren planets. You could fly to dozens of systems over the course of dozens of hours and just see Mercury or Mars equivalents forever. That would not be very fun, engaging, or interesting. Would anyone play Terraria/Minecraft if it was uniform and empty 90% of the time?

However, if each system is guaranteed to have a life bearing planet (or whatever series of conditions or variables one might choose), then players at least have reassurances that they'll actually have something to reliably 'explore' or 'interact' with. Based on the trailers I'd hope they're seeding it with more forethought than just 90/10/1 splits. Otherwise they will be in a for a rude awakening based on the marketing which is giving off the opposite impression.

Ah sorry, well I'd have to go back and look at the older interviews, but the way Sean phrased it, he made it sound like it was a fairly even distribution, so that every 10th planet or so that you explore should have some kind of life on it. Unknown whether he's made every system have at least one habitable planet.

It's too bad but I'm not sure how you would engage with gas giants outside of just harvesting the gases with your ship so I can understand why they left them out. It would still be neat to see them even if you couldn't interact with them though.

Yeah it's weird that they didn't include them when that seems to be biggest question next to "what do you do" and "can i play with friends". Sean's mantra is to only include something if it has gameplay implications...I agree that harvesting gas would've been a natural way to give them gameplay. But perhaps they didn't want to deal with extra programming complexities gas giants would involve.

If it's any consolation, Sean did say that there are some planets that superficially look like gas giants due to their thick atmospheres. I imagine they wouldn't have the intricate weather patterns of Jupiter though. And..probably not giant-sized. Probably look more like Titan.

 

[CHC]

Yeah it's weird that they didn't include them when that seems to be biggest question next to "what do you do" and "can i play with friends". Sean's mantra is to only include something if it has gameplay implications...I agree that harvesting gas would've been a natural way to give them gameplay. But perhaps they didn't want to deal with extra programming complexities gas giants would involve.

Oh man I can imagine trying to harvest gas or something while weird looking flying serpent-aliens attack the ship, or a dogfight where you dip in and out of visibility in the gas. Or floating trade posts above the clouds..... so cool.

Not really that disappointed they aren't in the game but still it would be kind of neat to have.

Still though, there will probably be some planets with very, very thick hazy atmospheres that give enough a gas giant-ish illusion.

 

[RiverKwai]

The thing with the procedural generation is that once you know what to look for, you'll be able to locate planets that have a good chance of having life from the solar system map.

 

[OraleeWey]

PS+ will not be required to play NMS. It will however require an internet connection so you can upload your discoveries to Atlas. For those of you wondering.



http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...ns-sky-will-not-require-playstation-plus.aspx

 

[WordAssassin]

I can't even imagine how thrilling it's going to be to go in for a landing on a planet with a thick atmosphere, if it has dangerous or poisonous air, a storm raging around your ship as you make your way through the clouds, barely able to see and hoping you don't unknowingly slam into the ground or an unseen mountain.

What weather effects have been confirmed, btw? I know we've seen rain but will there be snow, high winds, storms, lightning etc? Barren wasteland planets with little/no/toxic atmosphere should be properly dangerous to explore IMO with all kinds of storms and wind.

Edit: Just saw this in the other thread -

Water worlds are confirmed, hurricanes are confirmed, rain is confirmed, snow is confirmed, even tornadoes are confirmed.

Really curious to see how tornadoes work.

YESSSSS

God I wanna fly my ship through a lightning storm so bad omgggggg

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Not long now, I can't wait, think I will buy the soundtrack too from what little I have heard

 

[RedSwirl]

Right but what I'm talking about is how those proportions are distributed (if at all). If realistically distributed, then players should never expect to see anything but barren planets. You could fly to dozens of systems over the course of dozens of hours and just see Mercury or Mars equivalents forever. That would not be very fun, engaging, or interesting. Would anyone play Terraria/Minecraft if it was uniform and empty 90% of the time?

However, if each system is guaranteed to have a life bearing planet (or whatever series of conditions or variables one might choose), then players at least have reassurances that they'll actually have something to reliably 'explore' or 'interact' with. Based on the trailers I'd hope they're seeding it with more forethought than just 90/10/1 splits. Otherwise they will be in a for a rude awakening based on the marketing which is giving off the opposite impression.

I think there will still be interesting things on the lifeless planets. There will likely still be points of interest like crashed ships or maybe even ruins or trading stations. They will probably still have interesting geography as well.

NMS is going for more "fun" than "science," but science has shown us that even the lifeless planets and moons in our solar system harbor a lot of really cool things. What if you find planets or moons like Titan, with impenetrably thick atmospheres and seas of methane-like liquid? Or something like Europa with its sub-glacial oceans?

 

[SomTervo]

Right but what I'm talking about is how those proportions are distributed (if at all). If realistically distributed, then players should never expect to see anything but barren planets. You could fly to dozens of systems over the course of dozens of hours and just see Mercury or Mars equivalents forever. That would not be very fun, engaging, or interesting. Would anyone play Terraria/Minecraft if it was uniform and empty 90% of the time?

However, if each system is guaranteed to have a life bearing planet (or whatever series of conditions or variables one might choose), then players at least have reassurances that they'll actually have something to reliably 'explore' or 'interact' with. Based on the trailers I'd hope they're seeding it with more forethought than just 90/10/1 splits. Otherwise they will be in a for a rude awakening based on the marketing which is giving off the opposite impression.



It's too bad but I'm not sure how you would engage with gas giants outside of just harvesting the gases with your ship so I can understand why they left them out. It would still be neat to see them even if you couldn't interact with them though.

Don't think there's a confirmation of that - but Sean is on record chatting away about how well they want to balance the experience and they want to make sure there's plenty of even-handed variety. Might amount to nothing but I'm pretty sure they have some auteurship over the algorithm and have undoubtedly been tweaking it for years.

 

[manny10032]

Have they showed the "jump" animation yet?

 

[CarbonFire]

Have they showed the "jump" animation yet?

Yes, though who knows if the stuff we've seen so far is final.

At the very beginning of this video you can see a hyperjump, I think this might have been from that original IGN First footage that leaked out and was later replaced for the IGN First videos last July.

https://youtu.be/ubNV3i3I7Ss?t=15s

Yeah double checked, that is definitely from the leaked footage last year. Could easily have been a placeholder animation, that was from a year ago.

 

[CraigerGamer]

It's a really hard game to find deals for. I guess Hello Games are A) So small they don't have time to go for huge CD key distribution or deals (e.g. with graphics cards) and B) Need money so probably don't want to diminish the value of their game.

I found a 20-25% off deal that I found on Slick Deals. Sent you to some shady-ish site but they took my money and I got my key almost instantly. They were a partner of G2A I think. Something like that anyway.

 

[Planet]

I would happily trade the off chance to eventually meet someone for a true pause function. Online connection only for uploading renames and such. I hate it when I can't pause games.

I can see it coming, being chased by a nasty critter which I can't kill because of the dozen watcher drones close by, also the thermal shield is about to run out. Suddenly phone rings, the wife calls for help, one of the kids falls down the stairs, the doorbell rings and the full to the brim coffee mug tips over right at the laptop. Who cares? Pause mode is for sissies!

 

[hank_tree]

Is this 60fps?by now we should know that.

On PS4? I don't think so.

 

[bigDave]

i'm curious to see if there are moon phases.

right now we only saw "full moons", but it will be cool if there will be moon phases and eclipses too

 

[Icyflamez96]

i'm curious to see if there are moon phases.

right now we only saw "full moons", but it will be cool if there will be moon phases and eclipses too

Just searched it up on reddit. Got this https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/4hljij/question_about_moons/

 

[Ensirius]

Not long now, I can't wait, think I will buy the soundtrack too from what little I have heard

Soundtrack is God level.
Amazing stuff.

 

[bigDave]

Just searched it up on reddit. Got this https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/4hljij/question_about_moons/

i've never noticed moon phases in the trailers

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Yes, though who knows if the stuff we've seen so far is final.

At the very beginning of this video you can see a hyperjump, I think this might have been from that original IGN First footage that leaked out and was later replaced for the IGN First videos last July.

https://youtu.be/ubNV3i3I7Ss?t=15s

Yeah double checked, that is definitely from the leaked footage last year. Could easily have been a placeholder animation, that was from a year ago.

One interesting take from this vid is a possible answer to something I've been wondering. I've often seen those bird like creatures flying across the sky but not once seen them land or take off, but in this vid there are creatures walking about with fly like wings and surely they must be able to fly too?

https://youtu.be/ubNV3i3I7Ss?t=29m54s

 

[CarbonFire]

One interesting take from this vid is a possible answer to something I've been wondering. I've often seen those bird like creatures flying across the sky but not once seen them land or take off, but in this vid there are creatures walking about with fly like wings and surely they must be able to fly too?

https://youtu.be/ubNV3i3I7Ss?t=29m54s

Not necessarily. Wings could very well be one of the many parts that the generator can pick from when assembling each creature. Just think of them as alien Ostriches

---

i'm curious to see if there are moon phases.

right now we only saw "full moons", but it will be cool if there will be moon phases and eclipses too

We've already seen an eclipse, in the trailer from the game awards in 2014:

As for moon phases, we've seen partially shaded planets similar to moon phases, but there's no way of knowing if any of the "planets" we've seen are actually moons or not. Also since the planets/moons are quite close to each other, and the lighting model doesn't seem as robust as real life, they're probably not going to look that much like our Moon's phases.

Example:

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Not necessarily. Wings could very well be one of the many parts that the generator can pick from when assembling each creature. Just think of them as alien Ostriches

But it would make sense to exclude any procedural part that suggests a creature could fly.

 

[eyeball_kid]

At the very beginning of this video you can see a hyperjump, I think this might have been from that original IGN First footage that leaked out and was later replaced for the IGN First videos last July.

https://youtu.be/ubNV3i3I7Ss?t=15s

Yeah double checked, that is definitely from the leaked footage last year. Could easily have been a placeholder animation, that was from a year ago.

Nice, I've never seen this footage before. Some of the footage looks very alpha, but there's moments like at 4:18 that are "wow". Is there a version of this with Sean's narration, or is this subtitled version all that exists?

But it would make sense to exclude any procedural part that suggests a creature could fly.

Why? There's many flightless birds that still have wings, probably some insects too.
I agree that we've never seen a bird sitting in a tree or doing anything other than flying on a straight path, and hopefully they behave in more complex ways.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Why? There's many flightless birds that still have wings, probably some insects too.
I agree that we've never seen a bird sitting in a tree or doing anything other than flying on a straight path, and hopefully they behave in more complex ways.

Yes, there are flightless birds but they're distinctly insect wings. I don't care if it turns out they can't fly, I'm just saying this suggests perhaps we will see some creatures take off and land.

... And I still think those save stations are far too big for their needs. That's fast travel, I'm convinced of it. Something even begins to materialise in the last vid:

https://youtu.be/S_Oaf6Ol8U4?t=32s

He's not close enough to activate it for one thing. It activates as soon as he enters.

 

[KennyLinder]

On PS4? I don't think so.

That's my thinking. They may be using a PS4 controller in the that IGN demo video, but I would imagine it was hooked up to a PC.

 

[Jonm1010]

I am sure this is my own fault for not knowing, but does the presence of life follow the goldi-locks hypothesis?

Like will there be complex life on planets that are the distance of Mercury to a star or Pluto?

 

[GribbleGrunger]

That's my thinking. They may be using a PS4 controller in the that IGN demo video, but I would imagine it was hooked up to a PC.

Why would they be using the PC? Have you seen some 60fps footage somewhere? It seems a strange leap from someone asking if it runs at 60fps to the 30fps footage we've seen on Youtube must be running on a PC. It makes no sense.

 

[Pestilence11]

The guy at IGN claimed it was the PC version with a PS4 controller when they were showing it. He mentioned it in their new at the time PC podcast.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

The guy at IGN claimed it was the PC version with a PS4 controller when they were showing it. He mentioned it in their new at the time PC podcast.

That's the first I've heard of it. Have you got a link to that?

 

[Wind's Howling]

On PS4? I don't think so.

They were targeting it. No idea if they met their own expectation.

 

[Pestilence11]

That's the first I've heard of it. Have you got a link to that?

I'll look and then edit this post.

This is from their first, First Look. 37:00 in is when Dan Stapleton mentions it. I had to crank volume to full just to hear them.

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/07/16/ign-overclocked-episode-1-welcome-to-igns-pc-gaming-show?watch

 

[KennyLinder]

Why would they be using the PC? Have you seen some 60fps footage somewhere? It seems a strange leap from someone asking if it runs at 60fps to the 30fps footage we've seen on Youtube must be running on a PC. It makes no sense.

- The IGN footage is 60fps
- They'd be using a PC because it shows the game off in the best light, because its a PC
- I'd be genuinely surprised if NMS ran at 60fps on PS4

 

[CarbonFire]

Nice, I've never seen this footage before. Some of the footage looks very alpha, but there's moments like at 4:18 that are "wow". Is there a version of this with Sean's narration, or is this subtitled version all that exists?

The leak for this footage came from IGN Brazil IIRC, so it's all subtitled in Portuguese. It's also very rough looking, so it's not exactly surprising why they might have chosen to replace it with different footage.
Here's the leaked footage:
https://vid.me/326G

And here's what they actually released last year (with the infamous precarious ship landing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfpMRoZwzpk

 

[GribbleGrunger]

I'll look and then edit this post.

Cheers.

- The IGN footage is 60fps
- They'd be using a PC because it shows the game off in the best light, because its a PC
- I'd be genuinely surprised if NMS ran at 60fps on PS4

Ah, ok, now it makes sense. I didn't realise the footage used 60fps Youtube, I have that turned off because my laptop crashes.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

They were targeting it. No idea if they met their own expectation.

Innes did say this.

Now if Innes is talking about the PS4 version or the PC version is anyones guess.

 

[KennyLinder]

Well, that would be amazing if they've pulled that off!

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Innes did say this.

Now if Innes is talking about the PS4 version or the PC version is anyones guess.

Yes, I watched that and I'd have to say -- because it's only ever been demoed as the PS4 version -- I'd have to consider that deliberately misleading.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Yes, I watched that and I'd have to say -- because it's only ever been demoed as the PS4 version -- I'd have to consider that deliberately misleading.

Pretty much. I am worried that they haven't confirmed it officially being 60fps on PS4 yet. I would think they would be shouting it from the mountain tops if they had. I dunno. I hope it is but I won't be crushed if its 30.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Pretty much. I am worried that they haven't confirmed it officially being 60fps on PS4 yet. I would think they would be shouting it from the mountain tops if they had. I dunno. I hope it is but I won't be crushed if its 30.

oh, it won't bother me one jot if it runs at 30fps, but it will bother me a little if it turns out any 60fps footage has been shown running on a PC using the PS4 controller. I don't think that's the case to be honest and having a Youtube video running a 30fps game at 60fps isn't anything new.

 

[liquidtmd]

Ahh screw it, I'm in. Just preordered from the game collection for £37, cheapest I could see.

Nervous now. This game seems to be everything I've wanted since Elite. Don't let me down boys!

 

[kraspkibble]

i haven't really been following the game much but the last time i saw footage the framerate looked bad and there was screen tearing. definitely wasn't 60fps. of course they could have achieved it since then so we'll need to wait and see. not worrying me though since i'll be playing on pc.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

i haven't really been following the game much but the last time i saw footage the framerate looked bad and there was screen tearing. definitely wasn't 60fps. of course they could have achieved it since then so we'll need to wait and see. not worrying me though since i'll be playing on pc.

Thinly disguised.

 

[eyeball_kid]

The leak for this footage came from IGN Brazil IIRC, so it's all subtitled in Portuguese. It's also very rough looking, so it's not exactly surprising why they might have chosen to replace it with different footage.
Here's the leaked footage:
https://vid.me/326G

This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks! I guess Sean or IGN didn't like how this version turned out? Actually probably why they scrapped it is there seems to have been a bug in this E3 build where the water line appears to shift position as the player moves. At first I thought it was the tide coming in, but I think it's a bug. You can see it noticeably in this leaked video when he's walking near the ocean, but I also saw it in the video they released. It's a shame because this version of the demo feels more natural and gives more of a flavor of just landing on a new planet.

One thing I noticed is that even though he killed a creature and got a 1-star rating, the Sentinels didn't seem to come after him. In the other videos it seemed like if you just looked the wrong way at the robots they'd come after you.

Anothing thing I noticed is related to someone asking about crescent moons... when he jumps to Ollis-Ngoin you can see a shadowed night side. Maybe we've seen that before, but it's very distinct on this planet. I assume you'd be able to see that shadowing from the surface of another planet.

 

[danowat]

Ahh screw it, I'm in. Just preordered from the game collection for £37, cheapest I could see.

Nervous now. This game seems to be everything I've wanted since Elite. Don't let me down boys!

Yeah, I did the same, it's currently the cheapest place to get it, probably should say that this price is using a code at checkout, Birthday11

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Announced too early, I've lost all interest.
I was so excited for this as well, but now i could not care a shit.

 

[SomTervo]

I found a 20-25% off deal that I found on Slick Deals. Sent you to some shady-ish site but they took my money and I got my key almost instantly. They were a partner of G2A I think. Something like that anyway.

G2A are pretty legit, right?

Could you PM me a link to this deal?