Support NeoGAF

[Nzyme32]

Not heard this spoken of much, but thought this was worth posting about.

On the latest Podquisition episode, Laura K Buzz (Destructoid) highlights some things she has been hearing via her sources regarding No Man's Sky over recent months - https://soundcloud.com/jimquisition/podquisition-49-david-cage-writes-science-fiction#t=23:37

• No Man's Sky was meant to be at a UK event called Game City as a "hands off demo", but they cancelled their appearance, apparently due to technical issues.
• Sony's E3 Press Conference demo was not on a PS4. It was running on PC
• Considerable issues getting the game to run on PS4
• Optimisation on PC has been hell
• Lots of technical problems getting the game to run at the scale they want

Basically the end conclusion was just for people to be cautious

Apologies if old

Edit -

To clarify, I didn't post this because "it's surprising", but perhaps providing context for the release date

Edit 2 -

Laura has posted some clarification and additional info:

Hey all, don't often post on GAF, more of a lurker, but LauraKBuzz here. Feel free to Tweet me to confirm.

So, couple of bits of info here for context.

First up, I generally don't run new rumours (not citing another outlet as source but using my own sources) as news posts on Destructoid unless I have 100% solid confirmation that the news is legit.

Perfect example of this would be the VR On Rails FPS content Rush of Blood for Until Dawn. I had two solid, independent confirmed sources, both with verifiable evidence shown which I could backtrack outside of those sources. Once I was 100% I ran the rumour post on Destructoid, devs denied it, six days later it was announced at Paris Games Week and all info matched my leak from a week before.

When I post a rumour on Destructoid, uusing my own sources, you can be certain the thing discussed is legit.



So, why have I not run any of the info I mentioned on Podquisition as a news post on Destructoid? Because while I trust the sources on the info, I much of it comes from single sources. Many of the pieces of info I trust to be true, but I cannot verify with a separate independant source and backtrack comfortably to the devs.




"No Man's Sky was meant to be at a UK event called Game City as a "hands off demo", but they cancelled their appearance, apparently due to technical issues."

While it has now been confirmed as just a delay, my source on this spoke to me about the "cancellation" prior to it being public knowledge. The source 100% can be confirmed to have knowledge of GameCity dealings. At the time of speaking to them a replacement date had not been internally confirmed. Reason given was technical concerns. While the showing has now been rescheduled, and I should have noticed that info, my statement here on the podcast was based on info I was told prior to the removal of that appearance from the Gamecity Schedule.

Did not make a news story out of this as I only had a single source who knew it was not going to show up as planned, but cannot double source the reason for it not showing that day. If I had planned to do a news post, I would have followed up on updates and spotted the fact it was publicly afterwards referred to as a delay.





"Sony's E3 Press Conference demo was not on a PS4. It was running on PC
Considerable issues getting the game to run on PS4."

While this first piece of info is now several months old, while at E3 itself I was told this by two separate sources. One on the journalism side and one on the dev side, but not from Hello Games. One source told me the info while at the Sony conference. One told me while at the PC show. Both sources asked for me not to report on it at the time, but did tell me the source on their info.

The fact it wasn't running on PS4 wasn't entirely surprising at the time, but an unsubstantiated rumour from one of my sources, not backed up by the other, stated that the reason at the PC show it was announced that PC launch would be the same date as PS4 launch is they were very confident PS4 version would be the hold up.





"Optimisation on PC has been hell"

Came from the same source I spoke to at the PC show at E3, a few months later on. I know their source and can confirm they were in direct contact with HG, but I cannot source a second person to back up this info. Nothing concrete enough for me to cross check actual data points from person to person. Confident in my sources and where there is smoke, there is fire, but I won't run it on Dtoid until I have hard numbers confirmed by more than one source independently.





"Lots of technical problems getting the game to run at the scale they want"

Again multiple sources here, but nothing numbers based enough for me to cross check between sources. One source has stated VERY high PC specs currently required to run the game properly, which would explain how it's getting public appearances but not ready to run at expected levels on standard gaming rigs or PS4. I have not been able to cross check those alleged specs with a second source yet.



So, basically I have heard a lot of things from sources I personally trust, and I'm happy to informally talk about what I've heard on a podcast, but I'm not ready to run as a news story. As pointed out at the beginning of this post I earlier this month ran a single rumour on Dtoid, the news of Rush of Blood, six days before it was formally announced. I know how to do professional sourcing, I know when something sounds legit, and I know when I have solid enough sources that I can run a formal news story, confident in the knowledge it will be proven true in a reasonable amount of time.

Totally get the skepticism, I still have some of my own hence not running a formal story yet. Still, I know how to do news sourcing on unnanounced info. I'm telling you the spoke I saw and the reports of fire. I'm not ready to say the fire is real, but I see smoke and a lot of folk I trust say fire.

Oh, fun bonus - For the Until Dawn Rush of Blood news I broke 6 days early, both sources were UK gamers in the content's target demographic, invited by an outside market research firm to test the software in late August. I saw emails from the market research firm to both, as well as travel documents showing they went to Sony R&D on the days they claimed. I know enough people were invited that they can't be picked out based on that info.

Both described the content, both gave the name Rush of Blood, and one was able to show an image containing the name. The name linked up with an interview that had appeared a few weeks prior.

Both were able to confirm several bits of key info independantly, including what controller options were available, how many times they played the demo, what questions they were ask.

That's the level of confirmation I look for before running a news post

Also, to clarify the "what do you actually do in NMS" comments on the show, they are largely playing up to a bit of an on show snarky persona. I understand the idea of explore worlds, label them and move on toward the centre of the universe.

My current concerns are more A) What's to stop you flying straight to the centre? Are you collecting resources on planets to get there? Are those resources you can trade or aquire from other players? What level of interaction do you have beyond observing the world?

Right now a lot of that is unanswered info about the core gameplay loop of No Man's Sky, and info I feel like has been consicuously absent up until this point.

 

[BakkaGames]

Sad, but not surprising.

 

[Zombie James]

Well that's a disappointment :/

 

[Alcoholikaust]

Wow- hope the delay can alleviate some of the issues

 

[Boke1879]

Let them take the time they need. This is probably one of the most ambitious games out there.

Also wasn't Sean just playing this game on Ps4 on Colbert? Or at least a ps4 Dev Kit?

 

[Cheeseman Battitude]

Explains the delay.

 

[dugdug]

Comes with the territory on such an ambitious title. Especially for just 4 people.

 

[Lemonte]

oh no. This makes me sad. Sony needs to send their best people to help them

 

[Cave Johnson]

Considerable issues getting the game to run on PS4

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

 

[Alpha Phoenix]

None of those sound far-fetched to me. Also, isn't it basically common knowledge now that E3 demos are almost always running on a PC behind the scenes?

 

[Ferr986]

Oh man, hope they can solve all of those issues. Not looking good with the new delay.

 

[RoboPlato]

Wouldn't be surprised if they needed to call in some extra people for technical support.

 

[Lady Siara]

Not surprising. A team of that size working on a game this ambitious for the first time is going to cause some issues. I'm sure their offices getting flooded didn't help matters either.

At the very least, I'm sure it's been a great learning experience and would love to see them persevere. Best of luck!

 

[JoeyJungle]

I guess this might be the reason why they seemed hesitant to commit to a release time frame for so long.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

The concept itself is great and I hope with the extra time given they can iron out issues. Thanks for the summary OP, I didn't want to have to listen

 

[DrArchon]

I figured something like this was the case when they took forever to announce even a release window. And now the window is all the way out in June 2016. I can totally see a delay happening, though I hope they have enough time to fix whatever issues they're having.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Wouldn't surprise me.

Look at the difference in scope between No Man's Sky and Joe Danger.

Problems were inevitable.

I have absolute faith in Hello Games to deliver though. I'd be more surprised if there weren't massive issues with development.

 

[foxtrot3d]

Not surprising but I am kind of curious who these "sources" are, the game apparently only has like 12 people working on it and I doubt one of them would comment on it so I guess it would have to be Sony publishing people.

 

[mnannola]

Is anyone really surprised at this? The game has seamless space to planet transitions and constructs the planets only when you start getting near them.

 

[exmachina64]

Don't pre-order.

Sorry to hear of the issues, but don't let yourself get emotionally invested and you won't get burned.

 

[Bojanglez]

Shock horror, game in development is showing all traits of a game in development.

 

[th4tguy]

I mean, it's only 4 people working on this game. It's not surprising that they have and will continue to hit issues. No rush. Get the game where it needs to be and then release. Hopefully Sony is giving them the time and resources to make this game something worth buying a system for.

 

[danowat]

Good on them for being ambitious, too many developers play it safe these days.

 

[EatinOlives]

Technically ambitious title leads to considerable technical problems. News at 11.

Seriously, though, this is kind of expected given the scale and technical prowess of the game. If it was easy to develop this kind of enormous procedurally generated universe everyone would be doing it.

 

[TI82]

Sony needs to buy this game, the studio, and give them lots of help they need.

 

[jschreier]

Rumor: Video Game In Development Is In Development

 

[KiraXD]

Call Cerny

 

[danthefan]

Coincidentally I was listening to this part of the podcast when I saw this thread.

Shame if that stuff is true.

 

[kris.]

I fully expect a delay before June, and I'm okay with that. I have faith in the team. This game's gonna be something else.

 

[glassgannon]

well now that we have a release date, heres hoping theyve figured something out

 

[SictorVullivan]

Such a non story. In development game has issues? Shocking news.

Let's also remember Hello Games is only made up of like 10 people.

 

[Hoje0308]

Not sure if Sony would feel comfortable announcing the release month if the game was really in such a dire state. I call bullshit until there's evidence beyond anonymous sources.

 

[rje]

Rumor: Video Game In Development Is In Development

Seriously, this.

 

[IvanJ]

Perhaps one of the reasons it is now advertised as "console exclusive"?
They were non-committal on XOne port possibility, they've probably decided not to bother, and/or will receive some assistance from Sony to fix the issues.

Also a good explanation of why VR is not in the loop.

 

[Broken Joystick]

Rumor: Video Game In Development Is In Development

lol

Can't image the flood helped them either.

 

[Ricky Ricardo]

Running on PC at E3 though? I thought that was a no-no?

 

[Ultralow]

To anybody......saying its in development its to be expected not everygame made has issues to get it to run on the target hardware some of yall need to step back alittle....relay

 

[TheSpoiler]

Not sure if Sony would feel comfortable announcing the release month if the game was really in such a dire state. I call bullshit until there's evidence beyond anonymous sources.

Some outlets have decent, vetted anonymous sources. Mr. Press Sneak Fuck has proven his to be correct time and time again. But that's not always the case, and I'm not speaking for or against this in regards to the sources. Just clarifying.

Actually, on the subject, I'm sure they had big issues before, and that might have delayed an unannounced release date, but they have a bunch of months to iron this out.

 

[LewieP]

Very strange, I'd have expected them to come up with an idea and then magically have a fully formed game appear before them, fully QAd and fully certification compliant.

This is pretty much a non story.

 

[Pie and Beans]

VR dream is dead

 

[JoeyJungle]

lol

Can't image the flood helped them either.

They didn't lose any data from that, everything was backed up to the cloud.

 

[TheCowboyPoet]

Rumor: Video Game In Development Is In Development

It's like, wow, heavily ambitious game isn't running smoothly 8 months before launch?! BREAKING NEWS AT 11!!!

They didn't lose any data from that, everything was backed up to the cloud.

Thank god for the POWER OF THE CLOUD!

 

[phanphare]

pretty much expected, honestly

this game seems a bit too ambitious for its own good

hopefully they deliver though, the game looks interesting

 

[Bronx-Man]

"Game isn't working like devs want it to, devs decide to delay game"

Shocking rumors indeed.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

To anybody......saying its in development its to be expected not everygame made has issues to get it to run on the target hardware some of yall need to step back alittle....relay

No, but sometimes development, even for a target platform, doesn't go as expected and issues happen. It's not like they've just said "fuck it" and released it in a broken state.

 

[The Jackdog]

they have 8 months, lets see what they do with it

 

[ThePeoplesBureau]

None of those sound far-fetched to me. Also, isn't it basically common knowledge now that E3 demos are almost always running on a PC behind the scenes?

Yes. But with an occasional Mac or two thrown in for good measure.

 

[Hoje0308]

Some outlets have decent, vetted anonymous sources. Mr. Press Sneak Fuck has proven his to be correct time and time again. But that's not always the case, and I'm not speaking for or against this in regards to the sources. Just clarifying.

Actually, on the subject, I'm sure they had big issues before, and that might have delayed an unannounced release date, but they have a bunch of months to iron this out.

I'm not doubting that, but both sources and the people vetting them make mistakes. This comes hot on the heels of a release announcement and I'm just not buying it unless there's more substantial evidence.

 

[dr_rus]

Well, they are trying to create and simulate an entire galaxy. No wonder there are issues with getting the thing to run properly on that weak PS4 CPU. It probably doesn't help much that they've started the game development on PC which is leagues and miles above PS4 in terms of CPU headroom.

 

[Nzyme32]

Rumor: Video Game In Development Is In Development

Obviously. Like I said, it's more just talk of being cautious, whether that is regarding release dates or the scale of the final game etc. It also perhaps provides some context for the release date.