Game Informer: 30 minute 'BTS' video of No Man's Sky

GoldenCrow said:
Best thing I have watched in a long time, I have the feeling that if this wasn't a computer game it would be making a lot more noise in academic circles than it is at the moment. The application of maths alone is fucking impressive.
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Well he did say that he got actually contacted by a lot of people regarding the game, even recommending things, which I thought was super cool.

This game is the main reason I bought a PS4 and I can't wait to play it. The video has been pretty damn impressive and I really curious to see more from it.
 
Great video (so far), but GI kind of acts like this is the first time they've seen procedural generation, and that Elite doesn't exit.
 
Hahs said:
About 4 min. into the segment, there's apart where creator, Sean Murray is demonstrating how fast flying over terrain on a planet is; he says that terrain is being generated on the fly (mathematical algorithms and what-not). He said it will (the terrain will) be different on each individuals instance of the game.

It makes me wonder - from a multiplayer perspective - is this game going to use seeds, akin to Minecraft - anybody have a clue...it would have to, right?
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The Iindelendet Variable in the formula is positioning so everything will be the same for everyone.
 
Sinatar said:
Well to be fair in Elite while the distances are huge (and accurate) your ship is capable of absolutely absurb levels of speed, so they really aren't that far apart. I went to a station last night that was something like 15,000 light seconds away and it only took a few minutes as I was going over 600 times the speed of light.
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I didn't know this good thing then have those huge speeds. But i am excited just to explore the whole universe in no man's sky and the worlds just do what even today amazes people imagination to go to other planets. We as humans have been on the moon,next stop Mars it is something that we as humans know that there are other planets in and out of our solar system that's what i like about space. The difference is so mind boggling i can talk hours about this.
 
orava said:
Yes. The world generates same way for everyone. This is because now you don't need to save any of the generated geometry.
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I think GoldenCrow and SpookyFries got it right, but I agree that none of the geometry is saved - it's just 'called' rather.
GoldenCrow said:
No the terrain is the same, it uses a formula but because the formula is the same for everybody the input will always create the same output.
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SpookyFries said:
Everybody will start on their own planet but the universe is going to be a shared seed
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Much appreciated for clearing that up. I'm super-eager for this game, praying for no fools-gold.
 
Ruruja said:
Great video, I can't wait to play this and see what crazy animals I come across.
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I was glad he alluded to some really strange creatures. They're showing "dinosaurs" and four legged animals for demos, but he strongly hinted at some really weird stuff, from bugs to giant creatures. It got me hopeful we'll land on some planets and get chased off by some really freaky critters.
 
Sorry, but 30 minutes and not a single second of gameplay was shown... and that AFTER all the concerns about this game not having any actual gameplay yet.

I'm just really questioning whether they know what they even want to build with this game. Is this a Desert Bus Walking Simulator? Walking across huge, procedurally generated deserts with nothing to do isn't any fun. And them not showing anything remotely resembling gameplay is really, really concerning to me. They seem to be so in love with their tech that they might not realize that it's going to be insanely difficult to build an actual game around all this tech.
 
Chev said:
It wouldn't be making much noise in academic circles because it's the other way round, academics have been doing that stuff for years and NMS is basically a straight application of it. as for creative industries they're already using procedural generation but have been snubbing very direct approaches like this because it removes tons of creative control - you're essentially putting your entire assets in the hands of the machine and when you create assets for a living it's not gonna sound like a good thing.
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They have been doing applications of it but not in a visual representation, in many cases it is primarily data, the most important part for science. This approach of aesthetic approach could change how the sciences, specifically physics which can feel very abstract to the uninformed can deliver information in a more approachable way on simplistic hardware which hasn't been possible before.

Not necessarily. In the corporate world speed is king. Modelling specifically is very time consuming whilst being highly unimportant and when required can leave no time for craft. Sometimes modelling is thrown out of the window and you get shoddy photoshop comps. Where it will come in handy is the creation of assets for people or similar but slightly different structures such as buildings. I would absolutely use this sort of a plug-in as I would be able to get a lot of work done in a small amount of time leaving me to focus on what is important for the job at hand. It wouldn't reduce the amount of people necessary but reduce the work load and ultimately improve the quality. As long as you can control the input and then edit the outcomes there is no problem whatsoever.
 
thomasmahler said:
Sorry, but 30 minutes and not a single second of gameplay was shown... and that AFTER all the concerns about this game not having any actual gameplay yet.

I'm just really questioning whether they know what they even want to build with this game. Is this a Desert Bus Walking Simulator? Walking across huge, procedurally generated deserts with nothing to do isn't any fun. And them not showing anything remotely resembling gameplay is really, really concerning to me. They seem to be so in love with their tech that they might not realize that it's going to be insanely difficult to build an actual game around all this tech.
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yep.
pretty sure theres no gameplay in that game.
more of a work of art or a museum really.
maybe the goal of the game is not to fall asleep ?
 
Loving the tech behind it. I'm very curious to see what the actual gameplay will be like. Even if you won't be able to "do" many things, just being able to wander around and explore these worlds is intriguing enough for me.
 
Grief.exe said:
Oh wow. The sine wave example really explained everything.

The entire video Sean was saying that any input to the generation function would always yield the same output, but the literal explanation of that didn't dawn on me until he used a Sine Function to explain himself. That is why they do not have to store any information about their procedurally generated universe, when two different people observe the same planet, it will always be the same thing, but it also hasn't been generated until they actually visit.

Mind blowing stuff.

Gameinformer: "So the entire game is a sine wave?"

iblwWktjDkxZum.gif


Also, better get those i7s, this is going to be one of those games that requires multithreading.
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Thinking about this makes my head spin.
Siegmeyer.jpg
 
Amazing video. Assuming the gameplay will be FPS plus space ship to get around planets. My guess is they wanted to get the tech working first, to see if it was even possible, before spending the time to flesh out the gameplay elements.
 
My only concern is that the procedural nature of it could lead to some funky looking geography (like the weird looking blocky peninsulas about 3/4 of the way through the video). This was an old build though, so I can't really critizise, especially when the overall tech behind it is so impressive.

Grief.exe said:
Oh wow. The sine wave example really explained everything.

The entire video Sean was saying that any input to the generation function would always yield the same output, but the literal explanation of that didn't dawn on me until he used a Sine Function to explain himself. That is why they do not have to store any information about their procedurally generated universe, when two different people observe the same planet, it will always be the same thing, but it also hasn't been generated until they actually visit.

Mind blowing stuff.

Gameinformer: "So the entire game is a sine wave?"

iblwWktjDkxZum.gif


Also, better get those i7s, this is going to be one of those games that requires multithreading.
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These guys are fucking geniuses.
 
thomasmahler said:
Sorry, but 30 minutes and not a single second of gameplay was shown... and that AFTER all the concerns about this game not having any actual gameplay yet.

I'm just really questioning whether they know what they even want to build with this game. Is this a Desert Bus Walking Simulator? Walking across huge, procedurally generated deserts with nothing to do isn't any fun. And them not showing anything remotely resembling gameplay is really, really concerning to me. They seem to be so in love with their tech that they might not realize that it's going to be insanely difficult to build an actual game around all this tech.
Click to expand...

The video was not about the gameplay. It was a focused interview and demo about the technology behind the procedural world generation. The answers to your questions are largely out there, many in the GI issue this coverage is tied to.
 
GhaleonEB said:
The video was not about the gameplay. It was a focused interview and demo about the technology behind the procedural world generation. The answers to your questions are largely out there, many in the GI issue this coverage is tied to.
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Yeah, the video even ends with Sean saying

"I'm very aware that it's geeky techy stuff and not really the game."

Tomorrow there's going to be a livestream of gameplay at PSX.
 
Grief.exe said:
Oh wow. The sine wave example really explained everything.

The entire video Sean was saying that any input to the generation function would always yield the same output, but the literal explanation of that didn't dawn on me until he used a Sine Function to explain himself. That is why they do not have to store any information about their procedurally generated universe, when two different people observe the same planet, it will always be the same thing, but it also hasn't been generated until they actually visit.

Mind blowing stuff.

Gameinformer: "So the entire game is a sine wave?"

iblwWktjDkxZum.gif


Also, better get those i7s, this is going to be one of those games that requires multithreading.
Click to expand...

A lot of dev's can learn a thing from this unbelievable it really is.
 
thomasmahler said:
Sorry, but 30 minutes and not a single second of gameplay was shown... and that AFTER all the concerns about this game not having any actual gameplay yet.

I'm just really questioning whether they know what they even want to build with this game. Is this a Desert Bus Walking Simulator? Walking across huge, procedurally generated deserts with nothing to do isn't any fun. And them not showing anything remotely resembling gameplay is really, really concerning to me. They seem to be so in love with their tech that they might not realize that it's going to be insanely difficult to build an actual game around all this tech.
Click to expand...

So do posts like this keep cropping up because these games normally don't come out on consoles?

This sub genre of space sims has a 30 year history. Maybe try some of them out and see for yourself.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I was glad he alluded to some really strange creatures. They're showing "dinosaurs" and four legged animals for demos, but he strongly hinted at some really weird stuff, from bugs to giant creatures. It got me hopeful we'll land on some planets and get chased off by some really freaky critters.
Click to expand...

From the very first trailer
6iB7Uwe.png


These worms look HUGE and they move pretty fast
 
Grief.exe said:
Oh wow. The sine wave example really explained everything.

The entire video Sean was saying that any input to the generation function would always yield the same output, but the literal explanation of that didn't dawn on me until he used a Sine Function to explain himself. That is why they do not have to store any information about their procedurally generated universe, when two different people observe the same planet, it will always be the same thing, but it also hasn't been generated until they actually visit.

Mind blowing stuff.

Gameinformer: "So the entire game is a sine wave?"

iblwWktjDkxZum.gif


Also, better get those i7s, this is going to be one of those games that requires multithreading.
Click to expand...



Well.. Minecraft does the generation pretty much the same way. If know the seed of your friends map then your map will generate and look exactly the same. Only difference is that minecraft is actually saving the map data if you are playing on a server so you just load the data from there. If nobody has visited those coordinates, it gets generated and saved.

Sean is doing great marketing for this game though.
 
GhaleonEB said:
The video was not about the gameplay. It was a focused interview and demo about the technology behind the procedural world generation. The answers to your questions are largely out there, many in the GI issue this coverage is tied to.
Click to expand...

Well, they've been SAYING all these kinda things about mining, crafting, building, police chases, trading, etc. - but you've never SEEN any of that. There are no videos of actual gameplay. So let's hope they're showing something soon. Right now, this feels very Molyneux to me.
 
Have they discussed a possible release timeframe for this title? IT seems hard to believe that such a tiny team could produce a title with such prodigious aspirations in a relatively normal length development period.
 
I want this game to be good so badly, but I'm just not seeing it. I just can't see the game offering enough diverse gameplay to be interesting for more than a few hours. Every other planet's gonna end up looking slightly different but still similar and you're probably gonna find the dame gameplay on every one. I base this on nothing but my gut feeling btw, so take that as you will, but I'm just not seeing it. I'm very much hoping to be proven wrong on this. I'm buying it regardless, because when all is said and done I do think the game looks very interesting and has a lot of potential.
 
This looks so good. It's really interesting to see him explain how it all works and it's great how it allows a small team to make a large and interesting world.

But, given what he said, I'm not sure I get how they save the stuff I did in said planet. Like if I harvest a rock how does he save that? I doubt there are variables that small. Either way I'm sure it will work when it's released.
 
If they nail their goals then I'll be on board. I like everything I've seen and read but a lot of it sounds too good to be true especially with such a small team. Still, I'll support them when it comes out. Also is this gonna be a digital only game? Will be $60 and have a on disk?
 
GoldenCrow said:
They have been doing applications of it but not in a visual representation
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No, really, they have, as I said you're just a youtube search away from dozens of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2dyiitk6EY

If you really think researchers in the procedural generation field don't make visual representations of their stuff you're either a time traveller from the early 80s or completely missing the point of the field. And that's not even counting the research papers from actual game developers
 
I'm really curious about whether the gameplay will live up to the technical aspirations. These kinds of games were always my dream as a kid, and every time someone gets closer with procedural generation, huge worlds, etc, it still ends up really hollow and pointless. I'm not sold yet.
 
thomasmahler said:
Well, they've been SAYING all these kinda things about mining, crafting, building, police chases, trading, etc. - but you've never SEEN any of that. There are no videos of actual gameplay. So let's hope they're showing something soon. Right now, this feels very Molyneux to me.
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They're showing the tech behind some of the more unbelievable stuff (procedural planet generation). Trading and crafting is something that is done in so many games that it really shouldn't be that unbelievable that they can get that done. Plus, this game has it's own event during PSX and probably a presence at the VGA. We'll be seeing more of it before release, I can guarantee that.
 
thomasmahler said:
Sorry, but 30 minutes and not a single second of gameplay was shown... and that AFTER all the concerns about this game not having any actual gameplay yet.

I'm just really questioning whether they know what they even want to build with this game. Is this a Desert Bus Walking Simulator? Walking across huge, procedurally generated deserts with nothing to do isn't any fun. And them not showing anything remotely resembling gameplay is really, really concerning to me. They seem to be so in love with their tech that they might not realize that it's going to be insanely difficult to build an actual game around all this tech.
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...Because this wasn't about gameplay.
 
He seems really humble and honest. Love to see his studio getting so much attention.
The game also looks really promising, since everything will be random within their own rules.
Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Edit: The comments might be following a formula, too.
 
legacyzero said:
OH MY HAWKING

Naysayers are staring to get an odd hankerin for Crow.
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Why? I mean, procedurally generated locations have still never proven to be interesting. Shit, how much did people hate the generic shitty planets in Mass Effect 1,and those were undoubtedly procedurally generated THEN run over with a comb to put some structures and points of interest in it.

The game might be amazing, it's certainly a cool piece of tech, but it's VERY hard to imagine particularly interesting gameplay.
 
Having generally tried to avoid taking as many unnecessary math courses as I would have to take during college, it was kind of neat to hear them talk about chaos theory for a bit! Though as a dirty Westerner, the small "s" he adds after "math" always makes me grind my teeth. :P

The game looks incredible and I'm definitely more hyped about the game now than I was... basically two days ago. Really cool to know that the game is also coming out to PC - definitely will consider picking it up.
 
Gameinformer: "Why haven't any other developers done this before you?"

SeanMurray: [Laughs]
 
Grief.exe said:
Oh wow. The sine wave example really explained everything.

The entire video Sean was saying that any input to the generation function would always yield the same output, but the literal explanation of that didn't dawn on me until he used a Sine Function to explain himself. That is why they do not have to store any information about their procedurally generated universe, when two different people observe the same planet, it will always be the same thing, but it also hasn't been generated until they actually visit.

Mind blowing stuff.
Click to expand...

As said in the video, it has been done before. Fuel worked off of essentially the same principle. Mathematically it's very interesting.

It seems like No Man's Sky expands on what Fuel achieved.
 
Deadstar said:
How is it that a handful of guys are making this game yet a team of 300+ is making a generic Assassin's Creed game? It blows my mind. I wish money was thrown at innovative projects like this.
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Procedural worlds.

hemo memo said:
Gameinformer: "Why haven't any other developers done this before you?"

SeanMurray: [Laughs]
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I'd like to know if something like this can be applied to, say a Battlefront... or not because the cost of doing a Battlefront is already too high to not add all this on top of it.
 
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