No Man's Sky

How the Infinite Universe Actually Works.

I'm not too sure how to feel about this game. Looks fairly interesting, considering you get a universe to screw around in, which is mostly what I do in games. It seems like a very large game to explore, which is the other thing in games that I do the most aside from screwing around. Seems like my sorta game.

Although, there is one thing I want to see:
Some iconic ships from various media. All I want is to fly a Kestrel across the universe.

edited 22nd Jul '15 9:26:44 PM by The_Mattias

I dunno if I'd like that. I feel like it would detract from the feeling of a brand new universe to be explored, putting something 'pre-existing' into it.

That's a pretty good point there. I guess the desolation factor is part of the game itself...

edited 23rd Jul '15 5:13:45 PM by The_Mattias

I would guess it depends on the planet, but I don't think 'desolation' is something they're going for. Most places seem pretty colourful and have some kind of inhabitant. And there's all that space battle stuff they've shown, which I hope is not too big a part of it. If I wanted space battles, I'd play, I dunno, I can't think of a space battle game off the top of my head. Colony Wars. That might actually be the last space battle game I played.

Eh, maybe as a easter egg or something. The work entry here mentions a couple of ships in the trailers looking similar to ships in some sci-fi works, so there's that.

Well there's a pretty clear influence from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica already. Notice how the main starfighter the player character uses looks like a cross between the Viper and a X-Wing? Or how a good deal of the artwork and design looks like the early concept art from George Lucas's earlier visions of Star Wars, with a bit of Buck Rogers thrown in?

I noticed that, yes, but do you think they'd have any ships as they're represented in the media, i.e., The Kestrel from FTL that I mentioned?

No way to answer that until the game is released. Especially since the developer hasn't mentioned any interest in cameo appearances from other game franchises insofar I'm aware of.

Due to the fact that everything (and I do mean everything, mind you) is created via Procedural Generation, it wouldn't surprise me if it did wind up generating a ship variant that did look similar to FTL's Kestrel.

Sound Design of No Man's Sky

Now, what is the goal of No Mans Sky?

I noticed that by referred design, permanent structures are just plain not a thing in No Mans Sky, you can't exactly colonize these planets, Is there resources you are supposed to acquire? Or perhaps a goal?

The goal is to get to the center of the Galaxy.

Is there really a set goal? I have the 'get to the centre of the galaxy' one before, but does something actually happen if you do? I'd have thought a game like this would be like Minecraft. You just get plonked into a game world and you're free to do as you please. I don't actually know much of what No Man's Sky has beyond exploration, but I'll probably just do whatever seems interesting at the time, and as it happens I always liked just exploring in videogames anyway.

Well, minecraft now has goals, Like build a settlement, acquire resources and even has a late game of acquiring diamond gear and enchanting it out the ass, building a fully automated exp farm, and then taking down the final boss with a ludicrously enchanted bow.

Get to the center is the set goal, in the sense that its specified as something you can do. I guess you could think of it as a race: A thing can only ever be discovered once, and every celestial body (or maybe just planet) in the game will show who it was discovered by. There is only one human in existence who will ever be able to say that they discovered what was at the center of No Mans Sky. You and I can go there for ourselves without knowing what is there, yes; but unless you or I are the first person to get there, we can't claim to have discovered it. Essentially, getting to the center of the galaxy is taking the concept of "First!" to the absolute logical extreme.

If that's not your thing and you would rather just take your time exploring what is out there, all the more power to you. Because the person who gets to the center first is going to have to miss out on quite a lot to get there.

And if you just want to go looking for space battles to take part in: Good news! You have a nigh-infinite galaxy to wage war across at your leisure!

Everybody is a winner in this game. Everybody. It's an astronomer's GOAT wet dream.

edited 24th Jul '15 6:48:19 PM by TheAirman

The devs have also said that there is another plot hook at the center, so it's not necessarily the final goal.

Also that.

Everything is procedurally generated, huh? I thought just planets and wildlife and stuff, but no. I must...



Procedurally generate ALL THE THINGS!
This isn't a bad thing.

edited 24th Jul '15 11:22:53 PM by The_Mattias

From my experience with modding, procedural generation can produce a lot of neat things.

But there's a whole lotta BORING to be found first.

Well yeah, but what I meant was there's nothing forcing you to do any of that. It's entirely up to you what you do. It's not an objective in the traditional sense, it's just something you can do if you want. There's no real win condition.

http://www.gamesradar.com/no-mans-sky-on-morpheus-i-dont-know-what-im-allowed-say/?tag=grsocial-20

Sounds kind of dizzying during those space battles, but I'll bet it'll look great when you're doing something leisurely like walking through some grasslands.

Since we haven't had anything to talk about in a while, allow me to introduce you to Stephenus Rex:

Colbert. Fucking. Bump.

edited 4th Oct '15 10:17:04 AM by TheAirman

The Colbert Bump is real. I saw this game for the first time on Friday's show and I am intrigued. It has been a long time since I've found satisfaction in a space-sim of any sort. I'm definitely going to check this out.

Confirmed for June 2016

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/27/9621384/no-mans-sky-release-date-playstation-4