No Man's Sky release date announced.

[HeXen]

Infinite in any game doesn't mean infinite fun. Every game will get old/boring. No doubt they did some good math work here to arrange all the objects and textures into billions of configurations but even all the pics clearly show the similarities.
This game would be a great pallet for others to create some handcrafted missions and places if they allowed modding. Or for Hello Games to create DLC's with some Mass Effect style missions and stories. Either way this game could use some drama because the mining, trading..etc gets old quick leaving exploration the #1 aspect of this game.

Personally I find this game to be way to overly saturated and vibrant, too bad they didn't add a little grittiness to it but there's also a few other games like this, still in early access that make use of procedural generated galaxies such as Rodina. I suspect most future space sims will follow in the footsteps of No Man's Sky.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Infinite in any game doesn't mean infinite fun. Every game will get old/boring. No doubt they did some good math work here to arrange all the objects and textures into billions of configurations but even all the pics clearly show the similarities.
This game would be a great pallet for others to create some handcrafted missions and places if they allowed modding. Or for Hello Games to create DLC's with some Mass Effect style missions and stories. Either way this game could use some drama because the mining, trading..etc gets old quick leaving exploration the #1 aspect of this game.

Personally I find this game to be way to overly saturated and vibrant, too bad they didn't add a little grittiness to it but there's also a few other games like this, still in early access that make use of procedural generated galaxies such as Rodina. I suspect most future space sims will follow in the footsteps of No Man's Sky.

It would be cool if there were wormholes, or ways to warp to friends..etc. It just seems that in a gaming culture that swarms to community and social interaction, making such a huge game with no way to communicate or group up with people is backwards. Especially if it is as massive as they say and you really may never come across another player.

 

[Sabrewings]

A bit more info came out about how you might spend the first few hours of the game.

https://as.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTh...rray_said_the_game_is_balanced_such_that_you/

 

[jackstar7]

Sounds delightful.

 

[BoberFett]

There's a fairly lengthy game play demo at IGN with the dev.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/04/11/no-mans-sky-21-minutes-of-new-gameplay-ign-first

I'm even more intrigued than I was before. I just wish there was going to be an Xbone version.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

This game seems like a lot of futzing about exploring but never getting much opportunity to do a lot else. I also worry that while it's multiplayer, the vastness means it is effectively single player in practice.

 

[jackstar7]

This game seems like a lot of futzing about exploring but never getting much opportunity to do a lot else. I also worry that while it's multiplayer, the vastness means it is effectively single player in practice.

Not sure why those are problems, but you're correct.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Not sure why those are problems, but you're correct.

Because exploring a procedurally generated universe mostly by yourself becomes samey very quickly. Procedural generation is great and useful, but it's necessary to rely on the players themselves to provide the interest and conflict from their interactions with each other. This game seems to have largely removed that from the equation. I might not fully understand what this game is trying to do, but that is the impression I get from it.

 

[TechBoyJK]

To me, it seems like a pleasant departure from the way SC will be doing things.

I love the art direction of NMS, and it seems like a very relaxed explorer.

 

[Sabrewings]

Because exploring a procedurally generated universe mostly by yourself becomes samey very quickly. Procedural generation is great and useful, but it's necessary to rely on the players themselves to provide the interest and conflict from their interactions with each other.

I disagree. One of my favorite things about it is the limited (practically nonexistent) player interaction. It's a different kind of experience than a multiplayer game, and if that's what you need then it's not the game for you.

For the record Minecraft was quite popular long before it added multiplayer. PvP interaction in a procedural world is not needed by many to maintain interest.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I disagree. One of my favorite things about it is the limited (practically nonexistent) player interaction. It's a different kind of experience than a multiplayer game, and if that's what you need then it's not the game for you.

For the record Minecraft was quite popular long before it added multiplayer. PvP interaction in a procedural world is not needed by many to maintain interest.

Not sure it's comparable. Minecraft you interacted and built things etc. No Man's Sky is mostly just looking around. I watched a few gameplay videos and they certainly show more than that to a degree, so I'm not really sure what exactly is the end goal. It seems like maybe, just getting fuel for your ship, flying around and not dying and looking at pretty things.

I will probably end up picking this up, just not sure how long it will hold my attention. Some sort of autopilot would be nice I think

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I don't think PvP interaction is strictly necessary, but interaction is. Can you at least grab a few buddies to accompany you in your instance and explore together? Minecraft has solo value due to what you can build in it. Best I can tell the creation aspect of this game isn't all that strong, especially when I could play something like Space Engineers. Generally if I'm playing solo, I'm looking for things like a structured story, unique and vibrant encounters, or the tools to get really creative with what I can design/build. I haven't really seen anything that indicates this game will do any of those things.

 

[gorcorps]

There's a fairly lengthy game play demo at IGN with the dev.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/04/11/no-mans-sky-21-minutes-of-new-gameplay-ign-first

I'm even more intrigued than I was before. I just wish there was going to be an Xbone version.

Interesting. Some things look cool but a few decisions fly in the face of what I'd want in such a game. They say no minimap because you're the first one to discover the planet, but why not have a blank map that fills as you explore? Plenty of games have a similar setup and it works well, and would make sense that an explorer would be making a map as they go along.

I'm still intrigued but overall after watching that I'm less likely to bother.

 

[xantub]

Interesting. Some things look cool but a few decisions fly in the face of what I'd want in such a game. They say no minimap because you're the first one to discover the planet, but why not have a blank map that fills as you explore? Plenty of games have a similar setup and it works well, and would make sense that an explorer would be making a map as they go along.

I'm still intrigued but overall after watching that I'm less likely to bother.

Not to mention that if you have the technology to have inter-stellar ships, you sure as hell have the technology to take pictures of the surface before you land.

 

[jackstar7]

Not to mention that if you have the technology to have inter-stellar ships, you sure as hell have the technology to take pictures of the surface before you land.

Okay... but where's the fun in that?

 

[gorcorps]

Okay... but where's the fun in that?

Don't look at the map then if you want that experience. For those that do it'd be nice if there was an option. The developer has decided that there will be no mini-map in the game, which is okay... but he has to realize that decision will turn some people away. If you had the option to enable/disable it you'd be able to make everyone happy and we could play how we wanted.

 

[ImpulsE69]

So the game should really be called "Aimless Wandering: All Alone Edition"?

 

[DrunkenSano]

 

[jackstar7]

Don't look at the map then if you want that experience. For those that do it'd be nice if there was an option. The developer has decided that there will be no mini-map in the game, which is okay... but he has to realize that decision will turn some people away. If you had the option to enable/disable it you'd be able to make everyone happy and we could play how we wanted.

But they are the designers... you always have to play how they want...

I'm sure people who don't want that experience won't buy the game. Then it all works out.

 

[BoberFett]

A buddy of mine just posted a link to a video of Colbert interviewing the dev, and it got me thinking.

I wonder if they're going a bit too big with the universe. It's one thing to make running into other players a rare treat. Math though tells me though that the odds of two players ever even seeing the same planet are almost nil, much less seeing another player in game.

Let's be very generous and assume that 100 Million people play this game. We'll also be generous and assume that every player visits 10,000 of the 18 Quintillion planets. Neither of my numbers resembles reality, but as I said I'm being generous. My scientific notation skills are a bit rusty, but if I'm correct, then (10^8 * 10^4) / (18 * 10^18) = a 1 in 18,000,000 chance of ever seeing a planet that another player has seen. And that's only if my generous numbers hold true. I think the odds of winning the lottery are better than that. The chance of actually running into another player given those odds, is essentially zero.

I'm still interested in the game, but from the sounds of things no player will ever see a planet that somebody else has already named.

 

[Sabrewings]

That's a draw for me. I don't really care if I ever run in to a player. It's not about that for me; it's the exploring and seeing what's in the next system, what's over the next horizon. I'm out on my own in Elite right now exploring and couldn't be happier about it. Speaking of that, I need to finish my run to SagA* before NMS launches or it will be a while and I could lose some of my first dibs systems.

 

[zinfamous]

A buddy of mine just posted a link to a video of Colbert interviewing the dev, and it got me thinking.

I wonder if they're going a bit too big with the universe. It's one thing to make running into other players a rare treat. Math though tells me though that the odds of two players ever even seeing the same planet are almost nil, much less seeing another player in game.

Let's be very generous and assume that 100 Million people play this game. We'll also be generous and assume that every player visits 10,000 of the 18 Quintillion planets. Neither of my numbers resembles reality, but as I said I'm being generous. My scientific notation skills are a bit rusty, but if I'm correct, then (10^8 * 10^4) / (18 * 10^18) = a 1 in 18,000,000 chance of ever seeing a planet that another player has seen. And that's only if my generous numbers hold true. I think the odds of winning the lottery are better than that. The chance of actually running into another player given those odds, is essentially zero.

I'm still interested in the game, but from the sounds of things no player will ever see a planet that somebody else has already named.

I really don't care about not running into another player as I prefer single player, but I do feel that it misses out on what could be a great part of the game. I wonder if you have some peeps that play, though, and you can share coordinates and manage to meet in game with directed travel?

Seems like the mechanics should be there to easily run into other players if you want to--but the math for random encounters is way silly.

If you can only run into players randomly, then I think that changes the fun factor for anyone.

...by the way, major interstate lotto odds are 1 : 259,000,000

 

[BoberFett]

I don't care so much about running into other players, but it would interesting to me if I ran across planets other people had been to, named, and established contacts with the locals.

And thanks for the lottery odds, LOL. In reality, I'd guess 1 Million people will play, and visit 1,000 planets each. That reduces the odds by another 1000x, meaning it's 1 in 18 Billion. Anyone who sees another player in game should immediately go out and buy a lottery ticket!

 

[zinfamous]

I don't care so much about running into other players, but it would interesting to me if I ran across planets other people had been to, named, and established contacts with the locals.

And thanks for the lottery odds, LOL. In reality, I'd guess 1 Million people will play, and visit 1,000 planets each. That reduces the odds by another 1000x, meaning it's 1 in 18 Billion. Anyone who sees another player in game should immediately go out and buy a lottery ticket!

I'm just gonna leave winning lotto numbers like fortune cookies on every planet I discover. The chance that someone finds one...

 

[Majes]

A buddy of mine just posted a link to a video of Colbert interviewing the dev, and it got me thinking.

I wonder if they're going a bit too big with the universe. It's one thing to make running into other players a rare treat. Math though tells me though that the odds of two players ever even seeing the same planet are almost nil, much less seeing another player in game.

Let's be very generous and assume that 100 Million people play this game. We'll also be generous and assume that every player visits 10,000 of the 18 Quintillion planets. Neither of my numbers resembles reality, but as I said I'm being generous. My scientific notation skills are a bit rusty, but if I'm correct, then (10^8 * 10^4) / (18 * 10^18) = a 1 in 18,000,000 chance of ever seeing a planet that another player has seen. And that's only if my generous numbers hold true. I think the odds of winning the lottery are better than that. The chance of actually running into another player given those odds, is essentially zero.

I'm still interested in the game, but from the sounds of things no player will ever see a planet that somebody else has already named.

Just a question about these odds... I'm not actually an expert on this game, but isn't the general idea that everyone is traveling towards the center of the universe/galaxy/whatever it is?

Wouldn't that make it tons more likely that people will run into each other at some point?