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[Muppet of a Man]

Thank you Based Indie-man Sean Murray...you can take my money now.

This guy knows our pain. Giant production games with tiny imaginations (a.k.a. AAA games). It's like he reads GAF.

 

[MickeyKnox]

People, this isn't a concept. That trailer was made with the guy playing the actual game. It's been in development for years. Procedural is all about building the systems, and once those systems are in place, you just build content for the systems to use. In reality, the systems are the hard part, and those have to come first. They're clearly in the content portion of this. I speak from experience, having worked on a procedural generation system for a game before.

Does this mean the systems won't get tweaked? Of course not. But they have to be in a good place to make what was shown here.

Creating enough varied assets for the system to pull from when generating content so it's not the same handful of tile sets shuffled around is an astronomical amount of work for something that is purporting to create not only entire planets, or solar systems, but galaxies.

And that's without even touching on creating a gameplay hook that's worth a damn, which we have absolutely zero details on right now.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

That sounds very ambitious indeed.
I hope that they succeed, there can't be enough good space sims.

Please be good! Please be good! Please be good!...

I really, really hope they can pull it off. Being a small team should mean they are incredibly focused, so fingers, legs, pretty much everything crossed it's as good as it sounds when it's released...

Yep, this was my exact first thought. Now I'm praying that's it's good.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

This line...



We know they don't have an X1 dev kit/haven't been accepted into the ID@ program yet...

So they are either referring to the U or, as is more likely, the PS4...

It's got to be the PS4, as Shahid has been hinting at it pretty hard without actually explicitly saying it.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

It's got to be the PS4, as Shahid has been hinting at it pretty hard without actually explicitly saying it.

Yep, Sony are reaping incredible benefits from being so open and not having any arbitrary policies/restrictions in place.

MS needs to pull their finger out or face being left behind...

 

[nofi]

This line...

We know they don't have an X1 dev kit/haven't been accepted into the ID@ program yet...

So they are either referring to the U or, as is more likely, the PS4...

You know they don't have a dev kit? Fair enough, I don't know either way. =)

 

[BigDug13]

This was similar to what my mind came up with when it was said that Notch was working on a space-based followup to Minecraft. Something procedurally generated that is different each time you play it. Not to this scale that this game seems to have though. Never expected the whole swimming underwater seemlessly going to walking on land, then taking off in your ship, then leaving the atmosphere of the planet and ended up in outer space with a million planets to be able to do the same thing on...

 

[legacyzero]

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/09/no-mans-sky-is-a-sci-fi-exploration-roguelike-in-a-consistent-u

Gimme gimme GIMME!

This was similar to what my mind came up with when it was said that Notch was working on a space-based followup to Minecraft. Something procedurally generated that is different each time you play it. Not to this scale that this game seems to have though. Never expected the whole swimming underwater seemlessly going to walking on land, then taking off in your ship, then leaving the atmosphere of the planet and ended up in outer space with a million planets to be able to do the same thing on...

Yup. Notch fucked up letting go of that idea.

 

[ironcreed]

From Eurogamer:

Not exactly. Instead, he was building a vast procedural universe, granular in detail right to the ocean floors of the most inconsequential of planetoids. A place alive with danger wherever you point your first-person camera. A vast celestial food chain serving the needs of your inner naturalist. A huge, massively-distributed exploration puzzle inspiring your inner cartographer.

And so the idea starts to come together. It's not a particularly small idea. In fact, you could probably call it the Last Great Science Fiction Video Game Pitch: a procedural universe for you to bomb around inside, making discoveries and getting into scrapes. Downed ships, space battles in asteroid fields, giant worms cruising through the sands of some backwater hellhole - these are cliches for sure, but that's the whole point. They're the best cliches the genre can offer, and for once they're all connected, linked together, obeying the same handful of rules and first principles, and all the more alive because of it. Imagine an Elite with the power to take you down onto the surface of planets so you could explore the terrain. Imagine an Elite where you can use your blasters to drill a hole through an asteroid and see what's inside.

Speaking of cliches, have a go at this one. "So if you were stood on a mountain and you can see a tree three miles away you can go and you can walk and you can see that tree and what's under it," Murray tells me. "But also if you look into the sky and you see that classic science fiction crescent planet on the horizon, you can go there as well. And if you see a star that's in the sky, given enough time you can go and look at that as well. You can look at the night sky and all of those stars are actually real things, they are real places, and you can have visited some of them but not visited others. Grant [Duncan, the art director] said it the other day. 'Is this the first game that doesn't have a skybox?' It's such a weird thing, it's such a techie thing, but that should be our opener: the first game with no skybox."

So how will you orientate yourself in such a massive, bewildering place? In truth, it might come fairly naturally - for starters, you won't be alone. Everyone who plays No Man's Sky will begin the adventure on their own planet at the edge of a shared galaxy. For most people, the obvious hook will be to carve a path to the centre of the galaxy where there will be something waiting for them. Along the way, you'll discover that this universe has rules, and you'll have to work together with other players - other frontiersmen - to find out how the place fits together and how it all works. You'll be building from scratch, too. When you initially load up the galaxy map, all the systems and planets are there, but nothing's labeled. Filling in the blanks is up to you - up to everyone.

"I've had to fool Grant into working on this game," says Murray. "He'd create concepts and then we'd be in the crazy situation where we had to try and recreate concepts. Now we're in a position to do that. Moments in the game look like those book covers. There are crashed ships in places, and that's because ships have crashed there. There are moments that feel very reminiscent of Dune, and they're just happening for natural reasons. The trailer has been enormously hard to capture because everything that happens kind of only happens once. You only get one shot at it."

He'd like the fact that, in the science fiction-sounding year 2013, people were still talking about making the great space exploration game, though. He'd probably like the fact it was a small, knackered team that once had to take its own sofas around to trade events when it showed off its games, too. Succeed or fail, No Man's Sky is a clear bid to create one of those special games that defines a generation. Already, I can't take my eyes off it.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

So PC version confirmed pretty much!

I hope it has Steam Workshop support, that would have incredible potential.

 

[Chobel]

And if you see a star that's in the sky, given enough time you can go and look at that as well. You can look at the night sky and all of those stars are actually real things, they are real places, and you can have visited some of them but not visited others. Grant [Duncan, the art director] said it the other day. 'Is this the first game that doesn't have a skybox?' It's such a weird thing, it's such a techie thing, but that should be our opener: the first game with no skybox."

How the fuck did they achieve that? I can't think of any rendering technique that can do that. It may be as bullshit.

 

[legacyzero]

If this lives up to even half of the potential laid out here, then it will dwarf everything.

A four man indie dev making "AAA" devs look like jokes. Im all for that.

So PC version confirmed pretty much!

I hope it has Steam Workshop support, that would have incredible potential.

Oh GOD. Please have mod support. I dont wanna ask too much, but WOW that would be great.

 

[Nokterian]

I WANT THIS GAME!

 

[ironcreed]

A four man indie dev making "AAA" devs look like jokes. Im all for that.

Indeed, as more games like this start to become the next big thing, then perhaps there is a chance for the mega-publishers to finally come to the realization that it does not take hordes of people and hundreds of millions of dollars in order to create something groundbreaking. All you need is to narrow down who has the talent, then narrow down who has the best ideas and then give them free reign to create and amaze.

 

[Chocolate & Vanilla]

OK I didn't take much notice of this the other day because fps. But can I say just wow! How in the hell a 4 man dev team are making this is quite extraordinary. Colour me very fucking impressed and I will await with bated breath for the next glimpse at this.

 

[fallingdove]

So excited for this game and for indie games in general that are looking to raise the bar. AAA titles are great for what they are but much like blockbusters in the movie industry, they don't take the same creative chances that indie films do. I'd love to see something similar in the games industry. (AAAs if you want explosions, Indie if you'd like innovative game play and thought provoking stories.)

 

[Graphics Horse]

How the fuck did they achieve that? I can't think of any rendering technique that can do that. It may be as bullshit.

It wouldn't surprise me if it DOES use a skybox for distant stars, but a dynamic one that updates slowly and imperceptibly as you move through the galaxy. I read about another game which did that, can't remember which.

Also I thought that Frontier already did the visible visitable star thing decades ago.

 

[Nokterian]

This was similar to what my mind came up with when it was said that Notch was working on a space-based followup to Minecraft. Something procedurally generated that is different each time you play it. Not to this scale that this game seems to have though. Never expected the whole swimming underwater seemlessly going to walking on land, then taking off in your ship, then leaving the atmosphere of the planet and ended up in outer space with a million planets to be able to do the same thing on...

Yup he missed that train..goddamn this game i am still amazed what you said this has been a dream for me you know just go where you want and just go really in to space and go to other planets or whole galaxy's.

 

[tokyo slim]

Count me among those who will buy this day 1 on either PC or PS4.

 

[androvsky]

How the fuck did they achieve that? I can't think of any rendering technique that can do that. It may be as bullshit.

You might enjoy this: http://en.spaceengine.org/load

Same basic idea, every star you see can be visited, many stars have planets, and you can fly down to ground level on the planets. Even has multiple galaxies. Space Engine doesn't have a lot of interesting detail on the planets, but should give you an idea of what's possible on a very basic level.

 

[KOHIPEET]

I hope they get the economy of the game right. Is there any word on how it will work yet?

 

[ironcreed]

Yeah, this is the game I want a PS4 for. Of course it's all just previews and an amazing trailer right now, but nothing else even comes close to being as 'next-gen' to me in terms of what Hello Games are trying to achieve. You are no hero, just another frontiersman exploring a gorgeous and procedurally generated final frontier that is filled with beauty, discovery and danger. Hell, I'll be happy if it is only half as good as it sounds.

 

[Crispy75]

They said everything I wanted to hear. When's the next hype train? I've bought my ticket.

 

[Tommyhawk]

They said everything I wanted to hear. When's the next hype train? I've bought my ticket.

Welcome on board, it's already pretty crammed here.

Seems like they also have now a site up and running:

http://www.no-mans-sky.com/index.html

Alas with no further information but a nice background.

 

[KKRT00]

"No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. "

Bleh, not hyped anymore.

Still seems like great concept, which i'll definitely test, but its not what i was counting for.

 

[Empty]

"No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. "

Bleh, not hyped anymore.

Still seems like great concept, which i'll definitely test, but its not what i was counting for.

the eurogamer interview suggests that you'll have to work with other players tho

It will require you to, without going into too much detail, build up your character, build up your ship. I don't know how much I want to say about how you go about doing that, but you will have to co-operate with other people to make that journey. You will feel very vulnerable in this universe, and not necessarily empowered, but you will have the ability to travel great distances very fast and you have a lot of freedom." He pauses for a second, considering things. "A lot of freedom but maybe not masses of power."

 

[KKRT00]

the eurogamer interview suggests that you'll have to work with other players tho

Yes, You can affect database with other people, but its not coop, its singleplayer with shared database.
They described that in RPS's interview.

I love the concept, but real coop or mmo system are really important to me in such games.

 

[valkillmore]

Yes, You can affect database with other people, but its not coop, itssingleplayer with shared database.
They described that in RPS's interview.

This is what I was hoping for. I don't need some prickish swearing teenager shitting up my exploring. Now that this game exists, I may not even buy Destiny. No Mans Sky sounds like its everything I always wanted in an adventure game.

I absolutely cannot wait to play this. It has skyrocketed (yep) right to the front of my most anticipated games, right up there with Drive Club!

 

[KKRT00]

This is what I was hoping for. I don't need some prickish swearing teenager shitting up my exploring. Now that this game exists, I may not even buy Destiny. No Mans Sky sounds like its everything I always wanted in an adventure game.

I absolutely cannot wait to play this. It has skyrocketed (yep) right to the front of my most anticipated games, right up there with Drive Club!

If they solved it like Starbound, You could play it by yourself in SP mode, but there would be ability for communities to make big servers with dozens or hundreds people interactions or You could just play with 2-3 friends on Your server.
Current implementation limits it to only SP, which is worse solution.

 

[Red Chocobo]

"No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. "

Hype rising! (If that's even possible)

The worst thing that could happen to this game is that it becomes an online social thing. I want to explore the universe by myself. Not being trolled by some American teenagers.

 

[hohoXD123]

"No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. "

Bleh, not hyped anymore.

Still seems like great concept, which i'll definitely test, but its not what i was counting for.

the eurogamer interview suggests that you'll have to work with other players tho

Think that was slightly elaborated on in the VGX interview. Since the game is so vast, you'll likely not meet many players but if you do meet someone then it becomes an event in and of itself. Plus I'd assume that whatever is at the centre of the galaxy acts as some sort of location which many people end up exploring eventually so you're bound to run into someone.

 

[Tawpgun]

So no confirmation of platforms?

 

[Chocolate & Vanilla]

Yes, You can affect database with other people, but its not coop, its singleplayer with shared database.
They described that in RPS's interview.

I love the concept, but real coop or mmo system are really important to me in such games.

This only increases my interest

 

[KKRT00]

Hype rising! (If that's even possible)

The worst thing that could happen to this game is that it becomes an online social thing. I want to explore the universe by myself. Not being trolled by some American teenagers.

I dont even ... There are SP modes in MP games, You know?

I dont get why people are against options, like with Elder's Scroll games where there is always backlash when someone mention that he would like to have coop in the series ...

 

[gogoud]

So no confirmation of platforms?

As long as it's PC I'm happy. If it's ps4 I'll buy a ps4 down the road just to experience this. If it's psxoupc then all bases are covered. And gamers win.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Reading this stuff, game skyrocketed to the top of my list of anticipated games. Holy shit this sounds good.

 

[gift of 100 gab]

No it wouldn't. Do you really believe that? This is a game that gives you the tools to visit apparently inumerous planets with apparently inumerous combinations of fauna, flora, and geographical structures. Even if it ends up being a buggy mess, it will still be really impressive, and worthy of attention.

This is what every person who played Noctis but couldn't even decipher what was going on wants. This is the kind of sci fi that has been seriously been lacking in contemporary media. This is picking up two dead genres, space exploration and space combat. And it's an indie game. This is an impressive enterprise regardless of how you look at it.

Holy shit, yes, NOCTIS! I thought about that game so many times over the last few years and couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called. Must've been over 10 years since I played it. God it was so amazing...

Needless to say, I can't wait for this. Definitely shot up to the top of my most anticipated games.

 

[ironcreed]

Yes, You can affect database with other people, but its not coop, its singleplayer with shared database.
They described that in RPS's interview.

I love the concept, but real coop or mmo system are really important to me in such games.

That suits me just fine. I don't want some space MMO with people running around killing each other or death matches. Something like this is way more meaningful and personal feeling to me. It will allow me to affect things with others, while allowing me to have my own experience.

 

[legacyzero]

I hope they have some space station/colonies.

"No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. "

Bleh, not hyped anymore.

Still seems like great concept, which i'll definitely test, but its not what i was counting for.

I actually like that. Imagine the situation where you finally DO run into somebody?

 

[mysteriousmage09]

Only thing i'm disappointed in is not being able to at least have a small band of friends to play with. I don't care about the universe being full blown online and such like an MMO but not having it like, say, Minecraft, and having a few friends to go exploring and resource gathering with is kind of a blow.

Everything else sounds fantastic.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

So no confirmation of platforms?

It's currently up and running on PC and one next gen console (which most, including me, assume to be PS4)

So PC/PS4 is all but confirmed...

 

[Karak]

That suits me just fine. I don't want some space MMO with people running around killing each other or death matches. Something like this is way more meaningful and personal feeling to me. It will allow me to affect things with others, while allowing me to have my own experience.

Agreed. With this and Star Citizen my PC is gonna be busy for a couple years.

 

[ichtyander]

It sounds like the game I've been wanting to play for the last 20 years. I'm glad they're trying to pull it off and even if they fail, they might at least build a decent foundation as an example to other devs on how to make a game like this and what to avoid.

 

[ironcreed]

From RPS:

Exploration and resource gathering are the ways, really the only ways, in which the game is similar to Minecraft. The planets you land on aren’t cube-shaped and it’s unlikely you’ll build a house on them. They are the equivalent of Minecraft’s network of underground caves: exciting to find, unique to you, and full of materials which give them significance and value despite not being handcrafted.

Any planet you discover on your journey is marked on your galactic map, along with its name, its atmosphere and what resources you found there. If you choose to, you can then share that information with every other player, uploading it so that it’s shared across everyone’s galactic map.

You’ll get credit for discovering it. You’ll also, if the materials there are valuable, attract players to come visit. No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. But the galaxy is the same between everyone and actions of “significance” will be shared. If you kill a single bird, that won’t be shared. If you make an entire species of bird extinct, then those creatures will blink out of existence for everyone.

That means you might want to keep quiet about a planet of valuable resources, so others don’t come and deplete it. I also instantly start thinking of ways to be devious. Can I upload false information to the galactic map? Can I lure people to a system full of pirates and then, when their ships crash and burn, steal materials from their ghostly hulls?

When I ask these questions, Murray is light on specifics, but hopes players will work cooperatively. “There are some things that you could do for the wrong reasons. You could broadcast certain information for the wrong reasons. But generally people are playing together cooperatively to the benefit of everyone. You can be a dick in the game if you want, but it has less point and less value.”

These are the ways in which the game is like Spore, or to a lesser extent Dark Souls. It’s a singleplayer experience, but one enriched by a community playing with shared purpose.

It’s about moving the design away from strictly authored experiences, in which your actions are tightly scripted and controlled, in favour of something more expressive.

“You will at all times feel very vulnerable in this universe and not necessarily empowered,” explains Murray. “You have an enormous amount of freedom, but maybe not masses of power at your disposal.”

“It has a set of core mechanics that you can choose how to deal with situations, and how to interact with people, and how to upgrade yourself and how to upgrade your ship,” says Sean. “We want you to make choices at all times as you go through. Like in your ship, how much cargo, how much fuel to take, and we want you to live with those choices.”

“You can be that guy who just wants to walk around, find one planet and just explore that,” says Murray “But you can also play this game and not care about exploration at all and be all about building yourself up. You can also work to help other people, you can be that person. There are like a lot of different roles you can fill.”

They don’t want to closely define the experience. That’s the opposite of my goals in describing the game, but I appreciate the overall philosophy. “You are not going to boot up the game and find a 15 minute tutorial. You are not going to find a classic RPG structure.

“How it is at the moment, is that you can’t die, but you can lose everything,” explains Murray. “There is no saved game. Your game will be saved, your progress is saved all the time as you go along, but if your ship is destroyed then you go back to a lifepod and you’ve lost that ship, and that is your everything.”

If you decide to fill your ship with fuel and go on a risky trip to a distant, dangerous solar system, you could find yourself in trouble. “If you warp in and it is to a solar system that is full of pirates and you get shot down, then you have lost all of that. You can then rebuild from there, and you will be where you are in that universe.”

It’s your ship which defines how quickly you can progress between solar systems, so losing it would be a big blow. But if you’re lucky, you might crash land on a planet full of useful resources. “You perhaps find things that you can’t even make use of at the time and earmark that for yourself or your friends to cooperate with you to build yourself back up.”

 

[flamingotripod]

"No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. "

Bleh, not hyped anymore.

Still seems like great concept, which i'll definitely test, but its not what i was counting for.

Is the game not ambitious enough for you already?

Ill be glad if they can at least keep their word on this skybox stuff, which in my mind seems impossible

multiplayer would just be added fluff on top

 

[foomfoom415]

Yowza. My expectations are through the roof!

 

[thehillissilent]

Man, they could totally put this on Steam Early access and I would buy the Alpha right now.

 

[Tawpgun]

It is kind of deflating that it isn't something more akin to an MMO. Thats' where my hype was going.

This seems more like a Dark Souls kinda deal. You'll run into places other places have been and if they've done something"significant" then you'll see that. Otherwise you will never interact human to human.... It's still an ambitious and amazing concept but holy shit if they actually had a bunch of players in a shared galaxy. Imagine you land on a planet and you find another human player, but you guys don't have mic's. Do you try work together or are you too afraid to get backstabbed, so its shoot first ask questions later? Things that make games like GTA Online and Day Z so much fun. Shame the game won't be able to do that.

I do think they should do something akin to "summoning" a player(s) to your game. If you want your friend to be playing with you I think you should be able to do that.

 

[Steel]

Hmm... So semi-dark souls like multiplayer. Would be nice if you could invite people to explore with you. Still, game has all my hype.

 

[LCfiner]

This game looks absolutely beautiful. I hope it all comes together. It could be the kind of exploration focused game I’ve dreamed of for years.

Huge variety of environments and native creatures. massive collections of ships.

Just that quote about being on a planet, seeing a moon or even distant star and seamlessly taking off on your ship and landing on that moon or travelling to that star… omg. I hope it pans out.