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IGN First: No Man's Sky 21 Minute Gameplay Demo

he didn't steal the Korvax Ship, he hacked the platform to call his own ship to land on it.

Nice catch, watching again he does say, "And now I can summon my ship." Wasn't paying attention before and thought the ship rose up from the platform.

I agree there's some stuff that looks a bit weird, and some of that might indeed change, but some of it might end up very much like what we've seen today.

I guess the equipment icons are passable, but the element icons just look too much like a 1990's atomic model 3D program. Should've just made those flat.

In any case, this game is weird in a generational tech kind of way, since it does some things differently (that makes a high toll on the performance without really looking like it should), it's got a mix of old and new artifacts, stuff that you generally shouldn't see much in current gen games (like the pop-in), but also you don't really have loading times etc.

Yeah, I'm sure they've had to go through a lot of pain optimizing the game because of the procedural generation tech. I remember Sean kind of bristling in one video where the term "pop-in" was used, and basically said "no it's generating the landscape". But to the end-user the 'why' is not important, just that it looks nice. I feel for him in that respect because they're doing amazing stuff with the proc-gen engine and scale it has allowed (and the lack of loading as you say), and I hope people will forgive the technical constraints once they play it.

I mean, they might have different props for different factions, so only the Korvax would buy from Space Ikea (if we assume the station is even Korvax controlled, it makes sense). But still, I wouldn't expect a lot of difference in that regard, I'm sure we'll see a lot of the same looking architecture and interiors throughout the game.

Hopefully the different factions/races will at least have different looks to their building interiors.

The scale is so crazy. When Sean looked up to remind you that there's an entire universe out there it's overwhelming considering they just spent 15 minutes on a single planet.

Even moreso when you look down – that dot in the center of the image is the size of the demo area. It's insane. In fact, let's figure out how insane.

Let's say the world is roughly about 1300 pixels in diameter in this image. So assuming my math is right, the surface area of the world (A = 4 π r^2) would be 5,309,292 pixels. If we say the reticle dot that represents the land demo has an area of about 6 pixels, then the demo area we saw is only about 0.00011% of this world's surface.

lTkcw6K.jpg
 

RiverKwai

Member
I know all that, guys. I'm following this game as a rat since VGX. They're experienced and made some mobile-ish games, i said as Hello Games (the developer, the whole team) goes, they still need to prove themselves. Saying that one or other team member worked on some great games doesn't guarantee quality, but it gives hope.

I'm just saying that this game could be a colossal failure (or just disappointing), i think we all know that but we for sure as hell don't want to go this route. I'm just concerned by the looks of this IGN build and the amount of stuff they have hidden from us.

Stay hyped, but stay aware of the situation.

It sounds like you're expecting a different game than me. I'm excited for what they've shown. You seem to be excited for what they haven't. It's you that seems to be in need of talking off the hype edge here, not me . :)
 
Even moreso when you look down – that dot in the center of the image is the size of the demo area. It's insane. In fact, let's figure out how insane.

Let's say the world is roughly about 1300 pixels in diameter in this image. So assuming my math is right, the surface area of the world (A = 4 π r^2) would be 5,309,292 pixels. If we say the reticle dot that represents the land demo has an area of about 6 pixels, then the demo area we saw is only about 0.00011% of this world's surface.

lTkcw6K.jpg

whaaa.gif
 

neojubei

Will drop pants for Sony.
It sounds like you're expecting a different game than me. I'm excited for what they've shown. You seem to be excited for what they haven't. It's you that seems to be in need of talking off the hype edge here, not me . :)

i agreed. Everything shown about the game makes me excited.
 

Reszo

Member
Dudddee, I thought they were going to go silent on this game until at least May. Right when I calmed down from Hype-ness, they come back with a 22 min gameplay video and I'm right back on the damn hype train.

Can't wait for this game and that star map looks amazing. Really can't wait to see what planet I start on. I wonder how many people will reset the game until they get a planet they like lol.
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
This game looks so wonderful. I've dreamed about a title like this my whole life, so I imagine I'm going to have a great time just wandering the galaxy and cataloging my adventures.

I plan on creating a video log of my journies and uploading them to my YouTube channel.
 
The pop-in and shadows don't bother me one bit. This is a game that seems like it was made just for me - I can't wait to get my hands on this.

I probably will spend more time on this than any other game... Ever. Seriously, I can see myself just completely lost in this game.

Not much longer...
 
I cannot believe Sony put all that money into this game only to not have it as a PSVR launch title. It's baffling, really. Still will buy this day one though.
 
I cannot believe Sony put all that money into this game only to not have it as a PSVR launch title. It's baffling, really. Still will buy this day one though.

We still don't know for certain. It "could" happen. I'm praying to the Sony gods that it does because of it does... My weekends are over. The gf and I on our own PSVRs in NMS.... Over lol.
 

geomon

Member
I cannot believe Sony put all that money into this game only to not have it as a PSVR launch title. It's baffling, really. Still will buy this day one though.

We don't know how much money Sony put into this and I would rather not wait til October to buy this game. I've waited long enough.
 

teiresias

Member
I mean the game looks interesting and fun, but the primary thing I was thinking most of that video was that there was an awful lot of vegetation, particularly small plants, for a planet sitting at a temperature of -163C/-261F.
 

Svafnir

Member
I mean the game looks interesting and fun, but the primary thing I was thinking most of that video was that there was an awful lot of vegetation, particularly small plants, for a planet sitting at a temperature of -163C/-261F.

Yeah, uh. Don't put the confines of earth onto other planets. Other life doesn't necessarily need to be carbon based or depend on water like things do on earth. That's a rather minor gripe I think, they already mentioned they have created their own elements and periodic table.
 
I mean the game looks interesting and fun, but the primary thing I was thinking most of that video was that there was an awful lot of vegetation, particularly small plants, for a planet sitting at a temperature of -163C/-261F.

I know that this is me trying to defend the game as a fan and on PURE SPECULATION ALONE, but, maybe this planet's vegetation is biologically so different from our own, that maybe the biology and the science that we use here for Earth-based vegetation doesn't apply? Maybe these vegetation are able to survive these harsh conditions because of some other factor that we don't know of?

Just making it up, but it's fun to speculate!

Edit: beaten!

Yeah, uh. Don't put the confines of earth onto other planets. Other life doesn't necessarily need to be carbon based or depend on water like things do on earth. That's a rather minor gripe I think, they already mentioned they have created their own elements and periodic table.
 

fritzo

Member
I'm glad we got to see alien npcs and do some space battle/exploration. I can't wait to start this game and just explorer and figure out my next move. This whole "get to the center of the universe" just seems like something they (hello games) needs to say to help people understand what the game is about. But I feel the game is truly about exploring and discovery. I might play this game for a month, a year, or longer. It won't have DLC I'm assuming, and everything you discover would be new to you and only you it seems. I might play the game and watch someone's twitch stream at the same time. Can't wait.
 
The only thing that I didn't like was the little remark about planets resetting themselves after leaving them.

Yeah, that's pretty brutal. What's the fun of naming a planet and getting to know it when it's going to look totally different when you go back?
 
Yeah, that's pretty brutal. What's the fun of naming a planet and getting to know it when it's going to look totally different when you go back?

No need to get worked up here.; it's not. What we're talking about is the fine line that needs to be towed between a shared space between two or more entities and the desire to make that space feel personal and unique to each person while also respecting large-scale actions perpetrated by individuals that affect the rest of us. That ain't easy.

This is pretty lame TBH.

You're in luck; that ain't what is happening.
 

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
Yeah, that's pretty brutal. What's the fun of naming a planet and getting to know it when it's going to look totally different when you go back?

The planet will probably look the same. I think he meant that all the things you did on it, would not be stored.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
To that end I wonder if positioning is relegated to your IP, making it harder to stop >> restart

I don't think this is the case seeing as you can play the game entirely offline, and all of your discoveries you claimed are only registered to the server when you go online.

If there is a random procedural spawn point in place for a players starting zone, it might just throw up some random generated number and the outcome is whenever your starting planet will be. There will be some folks that have their internet disconnected and just keep creating a new save until they find their desired starting world and then go online and more or less start playing for real.
 
This might be silly but will there be black holes in this game? It'll be so cool if I can observe those phenomena while exploring the universe.
 

Muzicfreq

Banned
Even moreso when you look down – that dot in the center of the image is the size of the demo area. It's insane. In fact, let's figure out how insane.

Let's say the world is roughly about 1300 pixels in diameter in this image. So assuming my math is right, the surface area of the world (A = 4 π r^2) would be 5,309,292 pixels. If we say the reticle dot that represents the land demo has an area of about 6 pixels, then the demo area we saw is only about 0.00011% of this world's surface.

lTkcw6K.jpg

mwK8hs1.gif
 

5taquitos

Member
Even moreso when you look down – that dot in the center of the image is the size of the demo area. It's insane. In fact, let's figure out how insane.

Let's say the world is roughly about 1300 pixels in diameter in this image. So assuming my math is right, the surface area of the world (A = 4 π r^2) would be 5,309,292 pixels. If we say the reticle dot that represents the land demo has an area of about 6 pixels, then the demo area we saw is only about 0.00011% of this world's surface.

lTkcw6K.jpg

200w.gif
 
Yeah, that's pretty brutal. What's the fun of naming a planet and getting to know it when it's going to look totally different when you go back?

This is pretty lame TBH.

I don't think he meant it completely resets - major changes are saved as has been stated.

The planet will probably look the same. I think he meant that all the things you did on it, would not be stored.

Sean was talking about how the visuals are generated. Nothing exists on the disk as textures, models, shadow maps etc. like in a traditional game, everything you see is generated by the computer as you view it on screen. It's all maths. So for the example in the video, he is talking about the fact you walked around a planet with hills, and caves, and plants and animals all with form and textures. And when you fly off the planet the models and textures you saw aren't saved in some cache to be switched back in when you return to the planet, they're "thrown away" and if you do go back are regenerated through the same maths formulas, so will be in the same places they were.

And they've stated a number of times in different interviews small actions like digging holes, killing animals will be stored locally as maths. Only larger actions like blowing up a space station will be transferred to the servers.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Those interiors and much better than I could ever have imagined. I noticed several things (including a plant pot) placed inside these interiors so I see absolutely no reason why there can't be accommodations to rent.
 
I'm still not convinced that they're not showing the PC version with a DS4. The procedural generation has to be absolutely murderous on the PS4 CPU and that footage looked 60 fps or close to it. Their last IGN First Look was all PC footage according to Dan at IGN.

I'd be more than happy to be wrong though since if they get 60 then it's very likely it could hit PSVR.
 

GHG

Member
Amazing stuff.

Can't wait to see more. Definitely getting this. It's one of those rare games where I simply won't care what anyone else gas to say about the game, I simply have to experience it for myself.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
So much pop-in. I don't usually care about this stuff, but it was particularly noticeable here. I hope that can be ironed out a bit.

It will likely go through some optimisations before and after launch, but at the end of the day we're going to have to accept that it's not 'pop in' in the general sense, it's emerging algorithms. This technology is equally as impressive as something like the first GTA engines. We forgave problems with GTA because we realised what the technology is attempting to be. This could be (and I believe will be) the next big movement in game design. Let's forgive this technology's short comings and solute Sean Murray and his team for daring to dream. I say the same of Media Molecule. And while I'm at it I solute Naughty Dog for pushing the narrative form.

This is sublime.
 
More fun math. Based on my calculation that the demo area comprised about 0.00011% of the world's surface area, and going by the video that it took Sean 15 minutes until he left for space, how long would it take Sean to explore every bit of the world? Surely exploration time will vary from area to area, but let's use that as a very simple estimate.

Well Sean explored an area of 6 pixels in 15 minutes, so that gives us an exploration rate of 2.5 minutes per pixel. It seems crazy, but since that world's surface area has 5,309,292 pixels, it would take Sean roughly 13,273,230 minutes to explore the entirety of that world.

Or 221,221 hours.
Or 9,218 days.
Or about 25 years.
To explore one world.

The only thing that I didn't like was the little remark about planets resetting themselves after leaving them.

Sean said that planets are "thrown away" when you leave them, and if you "fly back down everything will be regenerated". Not reset. From what I understand, all of the more minor changes you make to a planet will be saved locally for you (Sean confirms that in this video). But only major changes (e.g. blowing up a space station) will be saved for everyone.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
So much pop-in. I don't usually care about this stuff, but it was particularly noticeable here. I hope that can be ironed out a bit.

It's probably not pop-in but rather actual content being created on the fly by the procedural generation.

Objects aren't set in stone for the entire planet you are on but rather created within a certain view distance.

In fact in much older video showcased Sean Murray doing a demonstration of flying around a planet at massive speed and he was moving so fast the terrain generation could barely keep up.
 

Sorc3r3r

Member
More fun math. Based on my calculation that the demo area comprised about 0.00011% of the world's surface area, and going by the video that it took Sean 15 minutes until he left for space, how long would it take Sean to explore every bit of the world? Surely exploration time will vary from area to area, but let's use that as a very simple estimate.

Well Sean explored an area of 6 pixels in 15 minutes, so that gives us an exploration rate of 2.5 minutes per pixel. It seems crazy, but since that world's surface area has 5,309,292 pixels, it would take Sean roughly 13,273,230 minutes to explore the entirety of that world.

Or 221,221 hours.
Or 9,218 days.
Or about 25 years.
To explore one world.



Sean said that planets are "thrown away" when you leave them, and if you "fly back down everything will be regenerated". Not reset. From what I understand, all of the more minor changes you make to a planet will be saved locally for you. But only major changes (e.g. blowing up a space station) will be saved for everyone.


For the no fun allowed meme: as much their algorithm is good i think that many spots on the planet will be the same.

Am I wrong?
 

Ooccoo

Member
There are still a lot of things that bother me.

  • Police robots spawning from nowhere when you attack stuff
  • Calls itself a survival game, yet when you die the only consequence is respawning
  • Combat looks very bad even if it isn't the focus. A bit too arcade

Granted these are probably minor faults but still a bit annoying, just like the "pop in" and inevitable boredom you'll face exploring mostly empty planets. It boils down to what you want from a game: perfectly crafted, engaging worlds and experiences or mathematical, countless content that feels and looks artificial since it's procedural. I think Hello Games should have made some more stuff that is "static" in nature, maybe it's in the game though, I'm talking dungeons maybe, or a big alien that literally eats worlds, or pirates that actively kill everyone in a galaxy, etc. I have this feeling that No Man's Sky won't live up to the high expectations of it being "endless." We'll see soon enough.
 
For the no fun allowed meme: as much their algorithm is good i think that many spots on the planet will be the same.

Sure, I'm not saying anyone would ever want to walk around one planet for 25 years, or even 25 days; I'm merely trying to express the incredibly realistic size of these worlds in terms we can understand. Mostly because I was curious to get a more real idea of NMS's planetary scales. Games often promise planet-sized planets and don't deliver, but NMS is the real deal.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Sure, I'm not saying anyone would ever want to walk around one planet for 25 years, or even 25 days; I'm merely trying to express the incredibly realistic size of these worlds in terms we can understand. Mostly because I was curious to get a more real idea of NMS's planetary scales. Games often promise planet-sized planets and don't deliver, but NMS is the real deal.

You should run a No Man's Sky Youtube channel.
 

Inviusx

Member
I've been skeptical about this game since day one and to be honest I still am. After watching this video I feel like I've just about seen everything that we can do. Frankly I'm not impressed with what I'm seeing here. The world generation seems awesome and the so does the seamless travel between land and space but apart from that it seems very bland.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
I've been skeptical about this game since day one and to be honest I still am. After watching this video I feel like I've just about seen everything that we can do. Frankly I'm not impressed with what I'm seeing here. The world generation seems awesome and the so does the seamless travel between land and space but apart from that it seems very bland.

I think it's because you're on the outside looking in. Minecraft looked uninteresting to me until I was on the inside looking out. It's the feelings these games evoke that draws you in and keeps you absorbed.
 
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