• 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 Confirmed Feature List

Tigress

Member
Uf.. Right now the game sounds like just moving a camera around and be good at the game for no good reason. I for one need to struggle a little to achieve a feeling of accomplishment. I want to turn a few knobs to be able to fly, I want to prepare to hit the atmosphere just right to be able to land on a planet..etc etc. I'm disappointed, but after having to have endured the empty techno-blabla from the devs lately, and little else, it kinda was expected.

Disclaimer: I'm a bit on the sim-side of games, that's just me, I knew NMS would be slightly arcadey, just not this much.. so I'm sorry for daring to have an opinion that is not yours. But that's good for you kinda, so be happy :)

It sounds like you want something that is more focused on the flying mechanics. Their focus is more on the exploration and trying to get from here to there safely. They've been toting this game as an exploration game so that really shouldn't be a surprise. So their focus is more going to be on the crafting, finding stuff, escaping/fighting aggressive things.

Also, the more wide scoping a game is, the less it can focus on individual mechanics of each thing it allows. Especially if you have a very limited button set. Add on they want the focus to be exploration and it sounds like they don't want to discourage people from being able to by game mechanics focused more on flying/combat that could chase people away who just want to explore.

I think this game may not be for you if the whole being an explorer isn't the big focus for you for the game.
 

Fdkn

Member
I'm not falling for it, I'm skeptical that a 4 man team will deliver the game everyone dreams about: billions of different big open world planets with as many billions of different microcosms.

I'm anticipating an incredibly limited game that's gonna get boring fast with its gameplay mechanics once the novelty of exploration wears off.

The game is not being made by a 4 man team. That was the start of the project.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Have they said anything about planets with intelligent life? Not intelligence like the dinosaurs and stuff in the demo but legit human intelligence.

Im just wondering if I am going to eventually find some planets with life that has human level intelligence.

Maybe some places like ancient egypt where some intelligence exists but its not advanced. And then some planets with ultra intelligence. Huge sweeping cities with clear intelligence that leads to them having interstellar travel too.

They've said that there won't be any truly intelligent life like that. Do you realize what a monumental task something like that would be? They're making a very ambitious procedurally generated universe, but they're not trying to reinvent AI all at the same time.
 
I was under the impression that you could but that it is unlikely. Im confused.
I'm under the impression that it is such unlikely an event that they could just lie about it being possible. It will never happen anyway (unless they deliberately start everyone near each other).
 
I was under the impression that you could but that it is unlikely. Im confused.

This seems to be the correct answer. This is what Mr. Murray has been saying for a while now.

Man, writing a walkthrough for this game is going to be a pain in the ass.

You know what I think is great? That they're creating a game that is striving to defy the traditional walkthrough model. I think what they're going for fits more into creating an encyclopedia/wiki of sorts, rather than a "strategies for the end boss" type of walkthrough. If you found some awesome resources or came across some weird ruin or something... you might want to share with people your discovery but it probably wouldn't "help" me in the traditional sense if it would take me literal months to travel to the spot you visited, but it would be cool just to see what else is out there.

Seems like this would be a great game for Sony and Hello Games to perhaps explore some inventive ways to use the Share function.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Could someone do the math?

18 quantillion planets total

10% will have life of some sort

90% of that 10% will be mostly barren but perhaps with something interesting on the planet worth discovering

So 18 quantillion / 90% = planets with life

Then that number divided again by 90% = amount of planets with rich and diverse ecosystems.

Does that math sound right?

Just remove a zero each step (which gives you 10% of the previous number). So, roughly:

Total number of planets: 18,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Planets with life: 1,800,000,000,000,000,000

Planets with "interesting" life: 180,000,000,000,000,000

That last number is 180 million billion (or 180 quadrillion).
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
That would contradict this part

Not really. Just because the planets will be closer together and probably have thinner atmospheres than in real life, along with you being able to move faster than any real spaceship could, that doesn't mean the planets themselves can't be to scale.
 

Five

Banned
That's taken.

It's all a big interstellar journey, right? Just call it Star Trek.

If you're playing as a pacifist. There will be factions you can team up with or war against, so Star Wars might be the better call. That's available, right?
 

Jonm1010

Banned
They've said that there won't be any truly intelligent life like that. Do you realize what a monumental task something like that would be? They're making a very ambitious procedurally generated universe, but they're not trying to reinvent AI all at the same time.

Oh.

Im not saying I want a planet with aliens I can talk to that all have their own Elder Scrolls like daily routines and diverse cultural differences between regions. I was just hoping that I would be able to find one or two planets that had some sort of planet sized city with some aliens walking around and what not. Maybe the home planets of some of the other factions.

Im not a programer so no I don't know the difficulty of that. I kind of just figured that they could maybe handcraft a handful of planets or create another algorithm for the very rare intelligent planets that generated buildings and ships and whatnot.
 

Tigress

Member
If you're playing as a pacifist. There will be factions you can team up with or war against, so Star Wars might be the better call. That's available, right?

Well, there might be some heros in this galaxy, you could call it Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm sure that one is available.

Oh.

Im not saying I want a planet with aliens I can talk to that all have their own Elder Scrolls like daily routines and diverse cultural differences between regions. I was just hoping that I would be able to find one or two planets that had some sort of planet sized city with some aliens walking around and what not. Maybe the home planets of some of the other factions.

Im not a programer so no I don't know the difficulty of that. I kind of just figured that they could maybe handcraft a handful of planets or create another algorithm for the very rare intelligent planets that generated buildings and ships and whatnot.

The only way I could see it working is if you had them talking gibberish that sounded like some different language. But it would probably be random gibberish. And I dunno, after a while it would be too obvious I would think.
 

Exis

Member
The only concern is that there will not be enough to do, I don't want 90% of my planets to be mining rocks.
 
Oh.

Im not saying I want a planet with aliens I can talk to that all have their own Elder Scrolls like daily routines and diverse cultural differences between regions. I was just hoping that I would be able to find one or two planets that had some sort of planet sized city with some aliens walking around and what not. Maybe the home planets of some of the other factions.

Im not a programer so no I don't know the difficulty of that. I kind of just figured that they could maybe handcraft a handful of planets or create another algorithm for the very rare intelligent planets that generated buildings and ships and whatnot.

You absolutely have a point there though. I'm also thinking there won't be any intelligent life on the planets themselves but it will look a bit weird that there are no home planets, since there will be intelligent life in the galaxy represented by the space stations and NPC ships.

The thing is, implementing the communication features for such intelligent life wouldn't be that hard (after all, that's what you'll have on space stations) but designing a well thought out and good looking procedural system for creating artificial structures, streets and maybe driving or flying vehicles gets somewhat complicated. Designing landmass and the flora procedurally lets you get away with all kinds of things while these artificial structures can potentially create all kinds of glitchy combinations.

I'm making all kinds of assumptions there though, they might not have to procedurally create cities (although that wouldn't work very well in this kind of project) etc. but overall it might not be that impossible a task to achieve. They already have artificial structures appearing ni the trailer, the obelisk things, cylinder shaped structures, something that looks like an angular outpost or watchtower etc. They might be developing a system for cities. Introversion Software released a somewhat simple but very good looking procedural city generator and there are already plugins for 3D modeling software that generate random city like configurations. They also have flying ship AI so I'm guessing having flying ships and cars around such a city is not that big of a stretch. Any kind of interaction would probably be via hangars or docking stations, communicating through menus and windows.

It would still complicate things and require more development time but it's not that big of a stretch as, say, Elite: Dangerous implementing planetary exploration in a DLC later on.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Oh.

Im not saying I want a planet with aliens I can talk to that all have their own Elder Scrolls like daily routines and diverse cultural differences between regions. I was just hoping that I would be able to find one or two planets that had some sort of planet sized city with some aliens walking around and what not. Maybe the home planets of some of the other factions.

Im not a programer so no I don't know the difficulty of that. I kind of just figured that they could maybe handcraft a handful of planets or create another algorithm for the very rare intelligent planets that generated buildings and ships and whatnot.

Sure, they could probably do cities (we know there will be strange alien structures that are not part of the natural landscape), and maybe they will (perhaps you'll find the civilization of the "malevolent force" at the center of the galaxy or something), but I doubt you'll see intelligent aliens walking around. That will probably be limited to ships flying around, which we know is in.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
The only concern is that there will not be enough to do, I don't want 90% of my planets to be mining rocks.

So don't land on desolate planets? Just fly down, look around, and leave if the place looks drab. With 1/10 planets having some sort of life, finding one should take very long. Finding one with more interesting life will take a bit longer unless you're lucky, but it will feel all that more special once you do. "Oh shit, look at this awesome planet I've discovered!" And that's what the game is very much about, the awe of discovery. It should feel special to find something really cool. That would be lost if every planet you visited was just as "interesting" as the last one.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
That sounds nice and I'm all for exploration above all else for this type of game because that's what it should demand. Now, deliver please. Take your sweet time and deliver on your vision of this game.
 

BigDug13

Member
So don't land on desolate planets? Just fly down, look around, and leave if the place looks drab. With 1/10 planets having some sort of life, finding one should take very long. Finding one with more interesting life will take a bit longer unless you're lucky, but it will feel all that more special once you do. "Oh shit, look at this awesome planet I've discovered!" And that's what the game is very much about, the awe of discovery. It should feel special to find something really cool. That would be lost if every planet you visited was just as "interesting" as the last one.

I hope there are in-ship sensor systems like Star Trek where you can scan for life ahead of time. I don't really want to be forced to physically swoop into the atmosphere of every planet just to see if I got lucky enough to find one of the 10% planets with life on it.
 

Barrylad

Neo Member
My excitement for this game decreases as more of these details come out, pertaining to the lack of life on large numbers of planets, the weird non-plot they keep referencing where the game has no real story but there is an end game, and so on. I'm still fascinated by it but it sounds like it's largely grinding-centric.

Going off the details ITT, I think this game be incredibly polarizing when it hits.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
My excitement for this game decreases as more of these details come out, pertaining to the lack of life on large numbers of planets, the weird non-plot they keep referencing where the game has no real story but there is an end game, and so on. I'm still fascinated by it but it sounds like it's largely grinding-centric.

Going off the details ITT, I think this game be incredibly polarizing when it hits.

I don't know how people can't see that if every planet was as lush and full of life as the dino one they had in their gameplay trailer, discovering such a planet wouldn't feel special at all. It's like you're not interested in the exploration part of the game at all, and just want nonstop action and stimulation. Well, the game might not be for you then, because it's very much about exploring the unknown. And the unknown might sometimes be a desolate desert planet (which doesn't mean there will be nothing to do there), and sometimes a lush jungle planet.

And the game does have a story. Or at least lore that you'll discover. That lore will tell you what's going on in the galaxy and why you might want to make your way to the center of it. But no, there will be no directed story with cutscenes, quest lines and stuff. This is a game where you put together your own adventure. Again, might not be for everyone. Personally, I think it sounds absolutely amazing. Can't wait to go exploring in this universe.
 

Lettuce

Member
timed exclusive meaning that this will eventually show up on xbox one? seems too too to be true, the space sim I always wanted after I played tf out of void mod on freelancer.

It means it will appear on the PC, just not now.

Funny how everyone and their dog kicks off when Microsoft makes the next Tomb Raider game a time exclusive, yet Sony does the same with arguably a much more desirable and ground breaking game yet no one batters an eyelid
 
Funny how everyone and their dog kicks off when Microsoft makes the next Tomb Raider game a time exclusive, yet Sony does the same with arguably a much more desirable and ground breaking game yet no one batters an eyelid

The heat MS got isn't really surprising at all since TR is an established multiplatform IP whose fans and customers cut across different systems and (now) different generations of console hardware, whereas No Man's Sky is a brand new IP with no real customer base yet.
 

daniels

Member
Almost eveything about this game sounds like pure hype .. i just dont see it it feels like another "spore" but i'd love to be :)
 
Funny how everyone and their dog kicks off when Microsoft makes the next Tomb Raider game a time exclusive, yet Sony does the same with arguably a much more desirable and ground breaking game yet no one batters an eyelid

There's a huge difference between a small indie team who has incredible relations with Sony, which Sony has helped immensely, focusing on delivering the PS4 title and then moving on to PC, because they lack the team size and it worked out in the end, vs a company spending money to prevent other consoles that were in all honesty being worked on already from releasing.

This "lol SonyGAF" mentality is ridiculous, please stop it people.
 

hawk2025

Member
Funny how everyone and their dog kicks off when Microsoft makes the next Tomb Raider game a time exclusive, yet Sony does the same with arguably a much more desirable and ground breaking game yet no one batters an eyelid


I love how we have people questioning the ability of a small team delivering on the promise of an ambitious game, while others complain about... the lack of complaining over an exclusivity deal on the same thread.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Funny how everyone and their dog kicks off when Microsoft makes the next Tomb Raider game a time exclusive, yet Sony does the same with arguably a much more desirable and ground breaking game yet no one batters an eyelid

Sony hasn't paid to keep this game off other platforms, as far as we know. Hello Games just don't have the resources to put it out on several platforms at once, so they're focusing on one to begin with. That that happens to be the PS4 might have something to do with Sony having been a lot more welcoming and supportive toward indies than MS. MS has fixed some of that, but it's really not that hard to see why the PS4 would be the more attractive choice as your initial platform.
 

NIGHT-

Member
I can see only two things that can happen with this game destiny:

-It will be GLORIOUS, with really giant planets and an infinity of different planets and variations with a huge "replay" value!
-Or it will flop like hell. With many and many of the planets looking almost the same with irrelevant variations, and planets that are in no way near a real sized planet; becoming tedious pretty fast.

I swear that I want the 1st to happen (who wouldnt). But Im finding the 2nd much more believable.

I'm easily seeing it being more like option #2. Would love to be wrong
 
You know what I think is great? That they're creating a game that is striving to defy the traditional walkthrough model. I think what they're going for fits more into creating an encyclopedia/wiki of sorts, rather than a "strategies for the end boss" type of walkthrough. If you found some awesome resources or came across some weird ruin or something... you might want to share with people your discovery but it probably wouldn't "help" me in the traditional sense if it would take me literal months to travel to the spot you visited, but it would be cool just to see what else is out there.
Heh, I was joking about someone making a walk-through but you're absolutely right. I can see tons of people chronicling their lives in their corner of the galaxy and attempting to chart it as well. It'll be interesting to see.
 

gosox333

Member
Realistically speaking, there's just no way that this is going to turn out as good as it's sounding. It seems like they're attempting way too much with too little.

But if it's even close to it, I could see me going next gen for this. I'll keep being cautiously optimistic until a bit after release and decide then.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
Just to clarify:

AFAIK, you cannot run into another player.

Weird post, so just to clarify, you don't know.

Sean had said people could in theory run into each other, but the universe is much too big to try and meet up with specific individuals, it would be more like a Souls situation where you run into random players and maybe complete a task with them before moving on.
 
What is the gameplay(at its best) actually like though? Is it just grinding for money on planets, walking around, taking pictures, looking for artifacts and shooting things in space? The space combat looks really simple and so does everything else about this game. It seems like it would be a great experience for Morpheus but as a regular game, I'm not seeing a lot of fun gameplay here.
 

bengraven

Member
I like that they say exploring and getting to the goal will be a compelling experience, but the lack of missions, communications, etc, makes it seem really boring.

This feels like a list that says "90% of what is compelling in other games - isn't in our game".
 
It seems apparent that this is not going to be for everyone. I don't think the people wondering "How do I beat it?" are going to like it very much. That's not this game.
 

BigDug13

Member
I like that they say exploring and getting to the goal will be a compelling experience, but the lack of missions, communications, etc, makes it seem really boring.

This feels like a list that says "90% of what is compelling in other games - isn't in our game".

What's the story in Minecraft? Not every game has to have "missions" and "checkpoints" and "narrative" to be a good game.
 
What is the gameplay(at its best) actually like though? Is it just grinding for money on planets, walking around, taking pictures, looking for artifacts and shooting things in space? The space combat looks really simple and so does everything else about this game. It seems like it would be a great experience for Morpheus but as a regular game, I'm not seeing a lot of fun gameplay here.

This game is procedurally generated. You don't play it for in depth gameplay or intricate level design.

If it's anything like minecraft, you play it to walk around and explore randomly generated planets and space with braindead simple mechanics that are done better in other, more focused games. But, if you don't care about that and are satisfied with the simplicity of the core mechanics, you have an endless universe to make your playground.

If that doesn't sound like what you want, it's not for you. And that's okay.
 

hydruxo

Member
The planets within the universe will have a 10% chance of having life on them, with 90% of them having no life on at all. Of the 10% that does have life, 90% of that will be primitive and boring. So the lush garden worlds with more evolved life forms on will be rare

I love this.
 
Top Bottom