Explore These No Man's Sky Facts Ahead of the Game's Release

[Revnak_v1legacy]

So... That's an unsigned 64 bit integer. Basically you can wrap each of those planets down to 64 things which you can say are true or false. Or, say, 16 things each on a scale of 1-16. If the latter (and it's just an example but it's probably not far from the truth) then you could see everything the game has to offer in as little as 16 planets; the rest of the variation is just combinations.

Oooo, 16. Doesn't sound so huge now, does it?

To put this into perspective, the password you will probably need to use to play this game online will be more complicated than the planets.

EDIT: Ooh, ooh, even better, the stored version of your password will not only be roughly as complex, not only 19 billion billion times as complex, but instead at the very least it will be 79 billion billion billion times more complex, and that is if your password is being stored in a horrifyingly insecure manner.

 

[Blitsie]

That's not really the case. There's been multiple of alpha play sessions on various outlets by now. The lots-a-planets shtick is getting a little old though.

Oh sweet! I'm gonna go have a look at the play sessions then, I'm cautiously excited for the game myself because I'm a sucker for open world space games but the game kind of gives me a "too good to be true" gut feeling sometimes. Apologies for having spoken without properly checking for any of those alpha sessions.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I've got nowt to add on No Man's, other than I'm on XB1 and my laptop wouldn't run it, so I'm likely never going to be playing it (as most others have said, though; PG and a lot of numbers don't mean anything for gameplay or the experience itself). However---

Give me a solid 4X games (of which several are now releasing and will soon be released) or some third person Space-Sim instead (screw Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen for being cockpit only and online).

You want a sim - but without one of a sim's defining aspects ever since the dawn of the [sprawling] genre? If it's a space-sim, you'll have lots of readouts and numbers and gauges to keep checking on and/or tweaking. Why would anyone interested in those aspects of a game then want less immersion by piloting it from a 3rdP cam? Isn't it a bit like saying 'I want to experience what it actually feels like to fly a Spitfire - but not in any way actual pilots experienced'?

Each to their own, of course, but it seems contrary with this genre.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Give me a solid 4X games (of which several are now releasing and will soon be released) or some third person Space-Sim instead (screw Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen for being cockpit only and online).

You want a sim - but without one of a sim's defining aspects ever since the dawn of the [sprawling] genre? If it's a space-sim, you'll have lots of readouts and numbers and gauges to keep checking on and/or tweaking. Why would anyone interested in those aspects of a game then want less immersion by piloting it from a 3rdP cam? Isn't it a bit like saying 'I want to experience what it actually feels like to fly a Spitfire - but not in any way actual pilots experienced'?

Each to their own, of course, but it seems contrary with this genre.

I suppose that's one of the trappings of a clunky naming convention really.
To clarify; I do not want a flying/plane simulator, I want a Space Trading and Combat Sim.

Besides the fact that I find it claustrophobic playing in a first person view I also think it's rather anachronistic to be emulating the feeling of flying a WWII plane instead of an advanced space-ship which could probably render the ship and it's surroundings in 3D/VR directly to a pilots mind.
I also use mouse & keyboard playing those games and not a joystick.

I want Freelancer 2 to put it simply. ,)
Which could cater to both audiences without compromising much of anything so I'm not trying to be exclusive here but inclusive.

*EDIT*
I tried to answer your PM but because of my capped bandwidth the Escapist forbids me from replying "through a proxy".

-snipped for privacy and integrity-

I'm sorry to say that it is most definitely made up (barring something unforeseen ofc).

I do have a slow internet connection which also have a bandwidth cap, but I wouldn't think that should preclude me from playing a single player game on my own computer.
It's also an issue of control. I want to play a game I've bought when I want, until I tire of it and not when they close down the servers.
I don't even use steam because I find it too intrusive.
I find it sad that the gaming medium is the only medium which intentionally sabotage the product for future players.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoy the game itself and would never begrudge you that, but as another space-sim enthusiast I also want something to enjoy.

 

[AJvsRonin]

Wow, great article there guys. Just stating information that has been available for well over a year now.

There is no way an article like this would've gotten slapped up here back in 2009, why is it ok now?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I want Freelancer 2 to put it simply.

I wouldn't mind Freelancer 2. But since it's a Microsoft IP, any new game would be restricted to their UWP format. Which means no modding. Something Freelancer was awesome with. I have been playing Freelancer recently, took some tweaking to get it to run at 1080 under Win 10, but it's still a fun game.

 

[Davroth]

The game world is too big for the devs to explore it all and need to rely on virtual probes? That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me.. I expect lots of fun bug and glitch videos, though.

 

[Dalisclock]

The game world is too big for the devs to explore it all and need to rely on virtual probes? That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me.. I expect lots of fun bug and glitch videos, though.

Why am I suddenly getting ME2 flashbacks?

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I want Freelancer 2 to put it simply.

I wouldn't mind Freelancer 2. But since it's a Microsoft IP, any new game would be restricted to their UWP format. Which means no modding. Something Freelancer was awesome with. I have been playing Freelancer recently, took some tweaking to get it to run at 1080 under Win 10, but it's still a fun game.

Indeed, it probably would. I'm already pretty disappointed in the current gaming restrictions and would never support UWP.
However, I would be satisfied (maybe even more than satisfied) with a spiritual sequel which is Freelancer in all but name.

If I'm not mistaken, and I could remember wrong, but Freelancer wasn't really designed for mods from the beginning.
That did not stop enthusiast from finding a way to mod something they really loved though. ,)

 

[Davroth]

The game world is too big for the devs to explore it all and need to rely on virtual probes? That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me.. I expect lots of fun bug and glitch videos, though.

Why am I suddenly getting ME2 flashbacks?

Mass Effect 2? I never got into it, but at least every corner of it had to be made by human hand, not algorithms..

 

[Joccaren]

Yeah... That's only two facts.
1. Its big.
2. Its procedurally generated.

Neither actually make it sound like it'll be any good. 18 billion billion 'unique' planets, split among 5 main, repeating, patterns in all likelihood. I mean, look at Spore. You could say much the same thing about it. All its planets were very, very, bland and samey though. Honestly, I expect not much difference here. A little bit more variety as this is what they're putting all their eggs in, but it'll still get samey and boring very quickly.

 

[Lightknight]

Let's try this for a point of comparison. They're claiming about 10 to the 19th power unique combinations. Here's a procedural province map for a little game I'm working on (Glade Raid [http://gladeraidgame.blogspot.com/]). It has well over 10 to the 46th power unique possible maps, but it just looks like this:

Spoiler

Hopefully you took my comment above as a crude joke about penis length and not an actual comment stating that 16 possible worlds configured differently in a universe of billions is a lot of configurations. You're right and it isn't.

 

[freaper]

snip

Except fallout and WOW have quests and things to do, it's great you get your kicks by walking but I would say the majority of people need more to latch on to.

Well what I meant to say is that I happily spent time ignoring those and just wandered around at random. Maybe you're right that 'explorer-types' are a minority, so maybe this'll be a niche game. I'd be okay with that.

I'm gonna segue from your post to highlight my problem with their promise of "a game about exploration": a procedurally generated world is by design less interesting than one where the author places every tree and shrubbery in a thoughtful location. In Bethesda games you can wander around a landscape that oozes purpose; every hut tells a story, every skeleton is a relic of a tragedy. But if you just generate peaks and valleys with no goal behind them, at most you'll have a mildly interesting vista that will feel completely meaningless after the third planet. It's kinda like Minecraft, where just running around, exploring the awe inspiring highlands, quickly feels dull if you do it longer than thirty minutes.

It seems like they're trying to mesh the worst aspects of multiplayer and singleplayer games; the lacklustre nature of storytelling in a procedurally generated world and the lack of meaningful interaction with other people.

And it certainly doesn't help that at every convention/interview I've seen -even with Stephen fucking Colbert- they show the same ten minute scripted sequence.

EDIT: Procedurally generated world instead of randomly generated world.

 

[Pyrian]

Hopefully you took my comment above as a crude joke about penis length...

Lol yeah no worries, my second post wasn't meant as a response to that.

 

[laggyteabag]

It is all well and good being crazy big, with a crazy amount of places to go and things to see, but what is there to, y'know, do?

All we know so far is that we need to get to the center of the universe because reasons, and that is about it. Why should I discover planets? Is there PvP content? Is there trading between planets? What is there to do other than explore? What am I here for?

I can load up Minecraft, point myself in one direction and just look around, but it wouldn't be terribly interesting. I fear No Man's Sky is depending too much on being big, and not actually investing too much time in populating this large space with anything even remotely noteworthy.

 

[Merlark]

funky bull shrimp is what I say to that, 18 million...yeah, 5 million jungles that are virtually the same, 4 million deserts with different colored rocks and 7 million ice planets where no snow flake is the same.

So what your saying is, we didn't put work into anything we let the computer jumble up whatever so don't blame us if it looks like crap.

But yeah, game play would be nice. at some point, preferably before its released. scariest pre-order ever. Trust us, it will be good! said every publisher ever.

 

[Vigormortis]

I'm curious how many people in this thread have actually bothered to look up information on the game, beyond what can be gleaned from the occasional headline on the front page of the this and other sites. I might be going out on a limb here but I'm gonna say, 'not many'.

There is a wealth of interviews, dev-talks, and early gameplay impressions out there already. Perhaps people should look them up if they aren't sure what the game has to offer.

Spoiler: Here, a three second Google search yielded this:

 

[Dalisclock]

The game world is too big for the devs to explore it all and need to rely on virtual probes? That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me.. I expect lots of fun bug and glitch videos, though.

Why am I suddenly getting ME2 flashbacks?

Mass Effect 2? I never got into it, but at least every corner of it had to be made by human hand, not algorithms..

I was referring more to the fact that in order to upgrade pretty much everything in ME2 you had to play a probe mini-game where you strip mined entire planets of their resources.

 

[NoeL]

"Minecraft in space" I can get into. It's one huge, static seed that everyone is playing at the same time. If there are ways to terraform and build settlements on planets it could be fun to build your own little fortress on a planet, where you've discovered and named everything there. And if you're fortunate enough to run into another player (which will be unlikely) you can be BFFs and colonise a planet together. Could be fun for a while... until everyone gets bored and their "18 billion planets!!!!1" become a completely barren wasteland.

But yes, like everyone else I'm sick of the hype for this game. Still curious to see what it has to offer, but the hype can fuck off.