"No Man's Sky" is procedural sci-fi exploration, and *purdy*. - by Shadowcat
Sulphur on 5/3/2016 at 16:47
Right, checked the articles as well and it is indeed the centre of the universe. Which would be an odd thing to do unless it's driven by some sort of an existential underpinning, because what would you find at the centre of the universe? Where would the centre be in a universe where space probably wraps around itself like the earth, anyway?
And if you could trace it, it would be ground zero (well, space zero) for the biggest material expansion posited in existence if the Big Bang actually happened, and would probably have a whole bunch of homogenous nothing along with, possibly, god; or a spectacularly mangled section of space-time bleeding into other dimensions|universes that'd be difficult to imagine, let alone mathematically model.
Either way, colour me intrigued now.
Thor on 5/3/2016 at 18:35
From the way the dev man talked, it felt like "Come for the jouney to the center of the universe, stay for the actual game". Which is cool. He believes the game has good substance.
demagogue on 6/3/2016 at 00:48
It could be like the plot of Star Trek 6 where there was heaven and an entity claiming to be god there.
I already like exploring in SpaceEngine and was looking forward to it getting a little gamified, since it's as realistic as sims get. But I'm open minded. If they take NMS in an EveOnline direction that could be interesting, since people will be invested in protecting planets they found and like.
Yakoob on 6/3/2016 at 01:34
I would've said it's silly for the game not having a central goal but then Mainkraft/Obliquevion/Skyrum/JistCuz all prove there is allure in pure sandbox just-dicking-around games.
Not allure that appeals to me sadly... yet the game is a bit intriguing. I'd play it if I got it dirt cheap or as a gift but not gonna be shelling out $60 on it.
nicked on 6/3/2016 at 07:46
I think universe/galaxy are interchangeable here. The game's big, but it's not that big!
And the main appeal of Minecraft (for me at least) is the unique sense of genuine exploration that comes from the world being procedural.
Thor on 6/3/2016 at 08:53
Right, but in the case of a universe there's nothing in particular revolving around it (indeed, there's really no clearly definable center in our universe), and in the case of a galaxy, everything within it is (and it's deadly). That said, it's not our own universe and they are taking some creative liberties with that.
Also yeah, would be awesome to patent a planet you've discovered. Developers are finding more and more clever ways to significantly devalue pirating a game :). Also, the game being the size it is, it would probably benefit greatly from blizzard-like things like social events organized by the developers (but on a galactic scale) and whatever craziness EVE does.
Does anyone know how exactly is the game procedurally generated? I imagine each first-time discovery of a planet is procedurally generated, but what else? Star maps? That sounds like an endless universe (any newbie after many years could discover things!). And more importantly, does the stuff once generated stay that way until the end of everything?
demagogue on 6/3/2016 at 10:18
It's not creating new content so much as it's just an algorithm you plug xyz values into and the math regularly spits out the same content every time. So yes, that same blade of grass on that planet will always be there. What it doesn't do that Minecraft does is save player changes. So you can't really change anything about a planet except naming it.
Thirith on 6/3/2016 at 10:19
@demagogue
Geeky correction: God at the centre of the galaxy was Star Trek 5; ST6 was the one about peace with the Klingons.
nicked on 7/3/2016 at 12:52
Quote Posted by demagogue
It's not creating new content so much as it's just an algorithm you plug xyz values into and the math regularly spits out the same content every time. So yes, that same blade of grass on that planet will always be there. What it doesn't do that Minecraft does is save player changes. So you can't really change anything about a planet except naming it.
Yeah not sure how that's going to work with the deformable terrain & resource mining. I guess it resets once you get to LOD distance.
Muzman on 10/8/2016 at 05:58
Ok so where are y'all? I need reviews!
So far the reaction seems to be, broadly, "It sucks. All you do is wander around infinite space tinkering with stuff" and "It's awesome! You wander around infinite space tinkering with stuff!"
