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[Michael F. Assbender]

My thoughts on the whole "but what do you do" thing basically boils down to:

A) At some point in the future, the game will be released. At that time, every question you might have about the game and what you can/can't do in it will be answered. At that time, you can ask players whatever questions you can possibly come up with and decide whether or not you want to spend money on the game.

Until that time, constantly banging your head against the wall in a futile attempt to get answers the developers aren't ready to share does nothing to further the conversation and only frustrates everyone around you. So maybe don't do that.

B) And for those asking questions that have been answered already (usually dozens of times over, in dozens of threads like this one), I just say: Seriously? You have the Internet--a limitless tool of discovery and information--at your fingertips. Look it up. If, after exhausting all avenues of knowledge, you still don't have the answers you seek, please refer to part A above.

Thank you.

 

[KeRaSh]

"The game's crafting system looks set to be intrinsically complicated but rich and intentionally obscure, for instance. After mining resources in pure atomic form you can combine them into more valuable molecules, and gradually build up complex crafted material for selling, or to use to upgrade your ship, exploration suit or weapons. Hello Games will not document how this works before launch, instead -- in the style of Minecraft -- leaving it up to players to discover."

holy shit

Umm... I'm 95% sure I just watched an interview yesterday where the developer specifically mentioned that Mincraft did this and it would drive him crazy if they did something like that.
I'll see if I can find that interview...

 

[Neuromancer]

I don't understand why this game gets questioned repeatedly for having nothing to do or getting boring fast, when half of the most popular games of the day involve walking down a hallway shooting every dude you see in the face until a cutscene plays.

 

[Unicorn]

Umm... I'm 95% sure I just watched an interview yesterday where the developer specifically mentioned that Mincraft did this and it would drive him crazy if they did something like that.
I'll see if I can find that interview...

He said it would be crazy to have that philosophy in obscuring that system, as Minecraft does, in the marketing cycle of typical game launches.

He said it as a sign of admiration or respect for that dedication to the vision of exploration philosophy in all aspects of a game.


Pretty sure it was the interview with Danny from Gamespot

 

[red731]

I just can't wait for Proteus+++lots of other stuff to do in space. Freaking huge space! Exploration is awesome and when proceduraly generated even better.

People are just mad they can't make the game the would like to play and they will find any little piece of what they like, dissect it and hate it.

We should not try and nudge them to "out" creative vision, but let them do whatever they want.

 

[meanspartan]

The whole "I still don't know what it is" and "what do you do" is really wearing thin. If someone is asking these questions over and over, they don't really get it.

A lot of people are asking these questions, not just "someone". The creators of this game and the fans that "Get it" need to do a better job explaining it rather than rolling their eyes and saying "you just don't get it!" when people reasonably ask about the moment to moment gameplay in No Man's Sky.

 

[Gaz_RB]

So there's no building at all, right? I can't make a space fort or anything?

 

[KeRaSh]

He said it would be crazy to have that philosophy in obscuring that system, as Minecraft does, in the marketing cycle of typical game launches.

He said it as a sign of admiration or respect for that dedication to the vision of exploration philosophy in all aspects of a game.


Pretty sure it was the interview with Danny from Gamespot

Yeah, I thought it was Gamespot but I can't find it anymore. Not sure if I watched it on their site or on Twitch...

 

[CarbonFire]

So there's no building at all, right? I can't make a space fort or anything?

Nope. And considering how the tech works, it's highly likely the destruction won't be persistent either.

You can upgrade your ship, your omnitool/weapon, your space suit. Either by purchasing them, or by crafting them from components or raw materials.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

A lot of people are asking these questions, not just "someone". The creators of this game and the fans that "Get it" need to do a better job explaining it rather than rolling their eyes and saying "you just don't get it!" when people reasonably ask about the moment to moment gameplay in No Man's Sky.

It's not as if you need to know right now or someone will die.

Those who are convinced that this game is worth their time and money will buy the game. Those who aren't convinced will find their answers from players once the game is released, and they will then either buy the game or won't buy the game.

Patience is a virtue.

 

[DJ88]

You CAN come across other players and see them, but it's extremely unlikely because of just how big the game is. There are 18 quintillion planets after all. As you get closer to the center, the chances of running into another player will increase, but it will still be a slim chance. If you do come across another real player, where will be no indication aside from your own observation. If you see a ship that's flying un-AI like, then it could be another player. If you see a person in a suit get out of a ship and walk around, then it's probably another player. Stars on the galactic map will twinkle whenever a discover is made somewhere, so you will occasionally catch that and see where someone might be in relevance to where you're at. You can also play completely offline.

Man this sounds so fucking cool. I'm wondering if theoretically, someone could be one of the lucky few to find another player and somehow they communicated to stick together. Then after a long time they stumble across a third player. And slowly after years they've gradually accumulated this large group of players, hopping from star system to star system in search of other lonely explorers to join them.

 

[dalin80]

The Jaden Smith quotes are displayed when you die, seems like a suitable punishment for failure.

 

[Icyflamez96]

Nope. And considering how the tech works, it's highly likely the destruction won't be persistent either.

You can upgrade your ship, your omnitool/weapon, your space suit. Either by purchasing them, or by crafting them from components or raw materials.

The environments are fully destructible.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

Man this sounds so fucking cool. I'm wondering if theoretically, someone could be one of the lucky few to find another player and somehow they communicated to stick together. Then after a long time they stumble across a third player. And slowly after years they've gradually accumulated this large group of players, hopping from star system to star system in search of other lonely explorers to join them.

I can picture doing that.

I travel from system to system, discovering worlds and upgrading my ship and suit. After some time, I happen upon a small blue sphere orbiting a white dwarf star. I hop out of my craft and begin the task of preparing to explore the ocean nearby. Just as I'm about to dive, I notice a humanoid jumping up and down on the shore. I swim over and, after working out some form of communication (assuming there's no voice chat), I earn this person's trust and we dive down together. At the bottom of the ocean, we discover some new, rare resource. Without thinking twice, I let my new friend keep it. I call my friend Bosco. Not because that's his name but because that's what I want his name to be. It makes me smile inside.

Over time, our twosome swells into a small gang of maybe a dozen members, culled from all parts of the galaxy, each person found exploring some uncharted planet circling a star a billion light years from the center of the galaxy.

After months or even years of effort, we all finally reach the very last planet before flying into the center of the galaxy. We land on the planet so we can take this epic moment in. Each member of the group leaves their ship and stands together as one, looking up at the sky, gazing in absolute awe at the majesty of the galaxy's center.

Suddenly, the silence is shattered by the sound of laser fire. Members of our group drop to the ground one by one, as mass confusion sets in. Shortly, only two members of the group are left: me and Bosco. He turns toward me and discovers to his horror that it was I who wiped out the team. I open fire on Bosco as he dies cursing my name. Who's the big man now, Bosco? Who's the big man now?

Space madness.

 

[Gruso]

I could picture doing that.

I travel from system to system, discovering worlds and upgrading my ship and suit. After some time, I happen upon a small sphere orbiting a white dwarf star. I hop out of my craft and begin the task of exploring the ocean nearby. Just as I prepare to dive, I notice a humanoid jumping up and down on the shore. I swim over and, after working out some form of communication (assuming there's no voice chat), I earn this person's trust and we dive down together. We discover some new, rare resource, and I let my new friend keep it. I call him Bosco. Not because that's his name but because that's what I want his name to be. It makes me chuckle.

Over time, our twosome swells into a small gang of maybe a dozen members, culled from all parts of the galaxy, each person found exploring some uncharted planet circling a star a billion light years from the center of the galaxy.

After months or years of effort, we all finally reach the very last planet before flying into the center of the galaxy. We land on the planet so we can take the moment in. Each member of the group leaves their ship and stands as one, looking up at the sky, gazing in absolute awe at the majesty of the galaxy's center.

Suddenly, the silence is shattered by the sound of laserfire. Members of our group drop to the ground one by one, as mass confusion sets in. Shortly, only two members of the group are left: me and Bosco. He turns toward me and discovers to his horror that it was I who wiped out the team. I open fire on Bosco as he dies cursing my name. Who's the big man now, Bosco? Who's the big man now?

Space madness.

Beautiful :')

 

[Shining Sunshine]

I wish Sean Murray could just fly out right after the press conference.

Just leave everyone void of information until release.

 

[params7]

Will the pc/ps4 have cross platform online? I hope they do because its going to be pretty lonely online as it is.

 

[msdstc]

I don't understand why this game gets questioned repeatedly for having nothing to do or getting boring fast, when half of the most popular games of the day involve walking down a hallway shooting every dude you see in the face until a cutscene plays.

Do you really not understand?

 

[CarbonFire]

The environments are fully destructible.

"Fully destructible" and "Fully-persistent destruction" aren't the same thing though.

Storing destruction locally in memory while you're in the area is relatively easy. Storing ALL of the destruction you've ever done on every planet you've ever visited is a supremely monumental task. Remember, everything in the game is generated by a super complex algorithm on the fly when the player is nearby. When there's no player nearby, the universe in NMS literally exists as a fixed equation.

Unless they've radically changed the way the game is designed from last years E3....

"So as you're flying towards a planet," Murray said, "the planet has a seed and that defines what variants all the types of things will live there, what type of grass, what type of trees, whatever, and all of these have been generated as we fly towards that planet. By the time you get there it'll all be there. Yeah, but it will always be the same, so as far as you're concerned, if you fly to a planet and see a tree in that exact spot and I fly to a planet and see a tree, I'll see the exact same spot."

When nobody's there, it's gone.

"It's then just thrown away when you fly away. It will always be the same. It's a mathematical function that will always return the same result. There's effectively layers and layers of math that creates the entire universe and it's this black box and you plug in whatever location you're at, it will generate it automatically."

It's cool that they've allowed destruction of the terrain around the player, but Minecraft this is not.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

"Fully destructible" and "Fully-persistent destruction" aren't the same thing though.

Storing destruction locally in memory while you're in the area is relatively easy. Storing ALL of the destruction you've ever done on every planet you've ever visited is a supremely monumental task. Remember, everything in the game is generated by a super complex algorithm on the fly when the player is nearby. When there's no player nearby, the universe in NMS literally exists as a fixed equation.

Unless they've radically changed the way the game is designed from last years E3....



It's cool that they've allowed destruction of the terrain around the player, but Minecraft this is not.

What you quoted does nothing to disprove his claim. It's two players seeing the same point the same way because math. If the tree in question is destroyed, what's to say the equation isn't altered for that single spot so that it always appears destroyed?

 

[egruntz]

"Fully destructible" and "Fully-persistent destruction" aren't the same thing though.

Storing destruction locally in memory while you're in the area is relatively easy. Storing ALL of the destruction you've ever done on every planet you've ever visited is a supremely monumental task. Remember, everything in the game is generated by a super complex algorithm on the fly when the player is nearby. When there's no player nearby, the universe in NMS literally exists as a fixed equation.

Unless they've radically changed the way the game is designed from last years E3....



It's cool that they've allowed destruction of the terrain around the player, but Minecraft this is not.

I'm confused.... Why is that so impossible?

1000000 people can use the same Google doc and make edits. You come back to it and see all the things that have been altered and changed. You just overwrite the data... Why wouldn't that apply here?

 

[B-Genius]

A lot of people are asking these questions, not just "someone". The creators of this game and the fans that "Get it" need to do a better job explaining it rather than rolling their eyes and saying "you just don't get it!" when people reasonably ask about the moment to moment gameplay in No Man's Sky.

I don't understand how you can enter this thread, read the OP and then post something like this.

If people were literally saying "you just don't get it", then you might have a point, but it seems to me that all the fans want everyone else to love and understand this game as much as they do.

Like, how fine-grain does an explanation of the "moment to moment gameplay" have to be before people are satisfied? "You WALK over to that rock and THEN you laser it to pieces."

 

[CarbonFire]

What you quoted does nothing to disprove his claim. It's two players seeing the same point the same way because math. If the tree in question is destroyed, what's to say the equation isn't altered for that single spot so that it always appears destroyed?

Who's to say? Math I suppose.

There is one super-duper-ultra-mega complex algorithm that generates literally everything in the NMS Universe. It takes inputs from the player, like their position in the universe and their character data, along with data from the central Atlus database for status of nearby bases, names of plants/animals/planets, and probably a host of secret points of interest we don't know about yet, and it uses all that data to create the world around the player.

But that's it. How the world is created around the player always relies on that single all-powerful algorithm. To change that algorithm, even a tiny, tiny bit would cause a ripple effect throughout the entire universe for every player. Now imagine hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players all changing the algorithm every time anyone blows up a chunk of dirt, and you'd quickly reach an untenable state. The algorithm must remain immutable, otherwise everything falls apart.

Now that doesn't mean we won't be able to affect the world around us permanently, but it will likely just be things that can be stored easily and quickly in the Atlus database. Like whether a particular base has been cleared by a player, or what the names of all the animals are on a planet. Or whether a particular ruin/crash site/portal has been discovered or not. Those are very simple, small and easy to transmit bits of data that even a moderately robust database could handle. But complex terrain data is not simple, not easy to store. It can't be boiled down to a single boolean or small integer.

I would love to be wrong on this, and be able to draw smiley faces on planets for other people to see, or create complex mazes in interior of a planet, but I just don't think that will be possible with the way this game is designed. And make no mistake, the way NMS is designed is truly breathtaking, and not something we've really experienced before. But there are caveats that come with this new way of building worlds.

 

[Icyflamez96]

"Fully destructible" and "Fully-persistent destruction" aren't the same thing though.

Storing destruction locally in memory while you're in the area is relatively easy. Storing ALL of the destruction you've ever done on every planet you've ever visited is a supremely monumental task. Remember, everything in the game is generated by a super complex algorithm on the fly when the player is nearby. When there's no player nearby, the universe in NMS literally exists as a fixed equation.

Unless they've radically changed the way the game is designed from last years E3....



It's cool that they've allowed destruction of the terrain around the player, but Minecraft this is not.

Little changes in terrain will always be saved for that particular player, but only big altercations in terrain will be saved and seen for everyone else.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

Who's to say? Math I suppose.

There is one super-duper-ultra-mega complex algorithm that generates literally everything in the NMS Universe. It takes inputs from the player, like their position in the universe and their character data, along with data from the central Atlus database for status of nearby bases, names of plants/animals/planets, and probably a host of secret points of interest we don't know about yet, and it uses all that data to create the world around the player.

But that's it. How the world is created around the player always relies on that single all-powerful algorithm. To change that algorithm, even a tiny, tiny bit would cause a ripple effect throughout the entire universe for every player. Now imagine hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players all changing the algorithm every time anyone blows up a chunk of dirt, and you'd quickly reach an untenable state. The algorithm must remain immutable, otherwise everything falls apart.

Now that doesn't mean we won't be able to affect the world around us permanently, but it will likely just be things that can be stored easily and quickly in the Atlus database. Like whether a particular base has been cleared by a player, or what the names of all the animals are on a planet. Or whether a particular ruin/crash site/portal has been discovered or not. Those are very simple, small and easy to transmit bits of data that even a moderately robust database could handle. But complex terrain data is not simple, not easy to store. It can't be boiled down to a single boolean or small integer.

I would love to be wrong on this, and be able to draw smiley faces on planets for other people to see, or create complex mazes in interior of a planet, but I just don't think that will be possible with the way this game is designed. And make no mistake, the way NMS is designed is truly breathtaking, and not something we've really experienced before. But there are caveats that come with this new way of building worlds.

Yet it's been confirmed that you can wipe out a species of animals that would exist for all players, causing that species to cease existing for all players.

Must really fuck up that algorithm when that happens.

 

[Greddleok]

There's multiplayer.

The universe is so big that even if 10 million were playing simultaneously, it's unlikely you'd find anyone.

Kinda makes me wonder: why bother with the multiplayer at all then? Maybe they're just pretending it's in there

Spoiler

/s

 

[CarbonFire]

Yet it's been confirmed that you can wipe out a species of animals that would exist for all players, causing that species to cease existing for all players.

Must really fuck up that algorithm when that happens.

Is [insert species name] exctint? Y/N
If yes, dont spawn that animal.

I dunno, seems like that would be pretty easy to track. The hard part would be tracking down all of single species on an entire planet

 

[Laughing Banana]

B) And for those asking questions that have been answered already (usually dozens of times over, in dozens of threads like this one), I just say: Seriously? You have the Internet--a limitless tool of discovery and information--at your fingertips. Look it up. If, after exhausting all avenues of knowledge, you still don't have the answers you seek, please refer to part A above.

But asking questions in GAF is a part of this

 

[Prophet Steve]

I'm confused.... Why is that so impossible?

1000000 people can use the same Google doc and make edits. You come back to it and see all the things that have been altered and changed. You just overwrite the data... Why wouldn't that apply here?

There is not really data here, everything is just "regenerated" by assinging it the same numbers. Same thing that you could get an exact same world in Minecraft by inputting the same seed, the worlds aren't stored but can be regenerated with the same input number. It's not like all the worlds are stored somewhere in a database, that would be an endless amount of data.

And that's the trouble with saving manipulations by players, those will need to be stored in data and that can quickly accumulate to a huge amount of data. I'm not sure of what they are planning to keep track off and how they are going to do it.

 

[StonedRider]

Looks like death in this game is quite punishing. Imagine, you spent couple of days/weeks collecting and combining valuable resources, earning money for spaceship and its upgrades. And then one stupid mistake and you lose the ship and should start from scratch. Also what about your multitool/suit upgrades, do they reset too? Hope this will not turn into grindfest. There better be an insurance system or something.
I see this game as relaxing experience, not stressful one. Of course, there should be elements of risk-reward, but I would not want to lose days of playtime from mistakes - it kills exploration incentive.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Looks like death in this game is quite punishing. Imagine, you spent couple of days/weeks collecting and combining valuable resources, earning money for spaceship and its upgrades. And then one stupid mistake and you lose the ship and should start from scratch. Also what about your multitool/suit upgrades, do they reset too? Hope this will not turn into grindfest. There better be an insurance system or something.
I see this game as relaxing experience, not stressful one. Of course, there should be elements of risk-reward, but I would not want to lose days of playtime from mistakes - it kills exploration incentive.

It says that you keep your credits, just lose the cargo you have on the ship.

EDIT: Oh I assume you mean when you've invested everything in your ship. It would depend a bit on how the upgrades are going to work.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Well, at last some concrete details.

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

Is [insert species name] exctint? Y/N
If yes, dont spawn that animal.

I dunno, seems like that would be pretty easy to track. The hard part would be tracking down all of single species on an entire planet

But if the animals are procedurally generated using the same algorithm as the plants, why couldn't the same go for them? Or for parts of the ground?

Has the ground been destroyed at coordinates XYZ? Y/N
If yes, display tile set B. If no, display tile set A.

I don't know. I'm no math whiz. I'm not saying for certain that the game has persistent destruction. We simply don't know, and won't know until the game is finally released.

 

[Prophet Steve]

But if the animals are procedurally generated using the same algorithm as the plants, why couldn't the same go for them? Or for parts of the ground?

Has the ground been destroyed at coordinates XYZ? Y/N
If yes, display tile set B. If no, display tile set A.

I don't know. I'm no math whiz. I'm not saying for certain that the game has persistent destruction. We simply don't know, and won't know until the game is finally released.

I'd assume there is some limit on species probably limited by the possible combinations, because if there were an unlimited number of them then whether or not one is extinct would not make a difference considering nobody should come across the same species. Or the chances wouldn't be significant enough to matter.

And when there is a finite amount of creatures, even when the number is pretty big, the data of whether or not it is extinct is manageable.

With so many worlds, while needing to keep track of "tiles" on those worlds, the amount of data would potentially be much higher.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

Will the pc/ps4 have cross platform online? I hope they do because its going to be pretty lonely online as it is.

everyone has the same universe sooooo yes?

 

[Prophet Steve]

everyone has the same universe sooooo yes?

Well, it is a bit unclear how the multiplayer exactly works and same universe can still be separated by platform. Or the universe can be the same, but the servers that connect the players are done differently depending on the platform.

 

[Santar]

You can also play completely offline.

Thank you Hello Games so much for including this!!

 

[breakfuss]

Well I still "don't get it" but for now I'm okay with that. Looks promising. Though "Proteus in space" I hope it is not...

 

[hEist]

question myself, what happens if you revisit a planet "again". Will the changes you applied like farmed huge rocks/trees/etc. for resources on my first trip be there or will the trees re-grow again on the exact position.
Rock will disappear?

Really curious how it will work, since if all changes will stay... dear god, this must be a huge "database".

And i do not understand always the question of some people "well, what will you do?"
You are exploring the universe.

 

[hesido]

But if the animals are procedurally generated using the same algorithm as the plants, why couldn't the same go for them? Or for parts of the ground?

Has the ground been destroyed at coordinates XYZ? Y/N
If yes, display tile set B. If no, display tile set A.

I don't know. I'm no math whiz. I'm not saying for certain that the game has persistent destruction. We simply don't know, and won't know until the game is finally released.

I don't think there would be persistent destruction. My best guess the game does keep a log of the environment destruction in the context of the player's own game, but a gradual fixing of the environment after a certain time, after which the destruction would be reverted. The reverting could be done in procedural fashion. The more space they reserve for the destruction, the longer the damage would be kept.

Otherwise the save-data would be too enormous to handle.

 

[StonedRider]

It says that you keep your credits, just lose the cargo you have on the ship.

EDIT: Oh I assume you mean when you've invested everything in your ship. It would depend a bit on how the upgrades are going to work.

I hope developers will let us keep all upgrades to ship, multitool and suit after respawn.

 

[Icyflamez96]

I hope developers will let us keep all upgrades to ship, multitool and suit after respawn.

Your multitool, suit upgrades and bank account don't reset. I'll add that to the general info... As for ships, it's still up in the air whether we can actually upgrade those or not.

 

[MikeyB]

For instance, I went back to Destiny for the story

What

went back to Destiny for the story

Wha-

Destiny for the story

I can't even.

 

[JP]

I'm quite liking that there's confusion about this game and that it can't be reduced to a few bullet points like most games can.

For me, it sounds wonderful and just flying around exploring different planets then upgrading my stuff when I feel that I want to/need to seems perfect.

It's almost like a dream come true for me.

I do understand why some may hate everything about this game but I also don't care.

Should add that there is one thing that I don't like about this so far and that is that people can change the name of planets.

 

[Div3x]

Im still really hyped for this game but i have become skeptical.

It feels like you will be doing the same thing from start to end which worries me,

gather resources
sell resources or craft them into better gear or goods to sell
buy new gear,ship etc
travel closer to the middle of the universe
etc...

Now there will be a few random events like the space battles to change things up so that's nice i guess, i just hope that it isn't the same battle every time again.

The inclusion of land battles and land, space base building would fix most of my issues and it doesn't have to be hard, just use robots that look like the AT-TE and the AT-AP from Star Wars for land battles and a a building system that most other games use for land, space base building

I will still buy this on day 1, i just hope that it doesn't get boring before reaching the middle.

 

[Icyflamez96]

The inclusion of land battles and land, space base building would fix most of my issues and it doesn't have to be hard, just use robots that look like the AT-TE and the AT-AP from Star Wars for land battles and a a building system that most other games use for land, space base building

I will still buy this on day 1, i just hope that it doesn't get boring before reaching the middle.

 

[MikeyB]

I love the concept and almost evetything they've shown. My only concern with the game so far is how movement is handled. There doesn't seem to be any sense of momentum. Based on what I've seen, it looks like you can stop on a dime in any environment. While I think that pure Newtonian motion in a vacuum can be too much, I want the ship and character to have some weight.

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

Is it possible to build structures and bases on planets ala Minecraft in space? That's like the one feature I would absolutely love in addition to everything the game currently has.

 

[Icyflamez96]

Is it possible to build structures and bases on planets ala Minecraft in space? That's like the one feature I would absolutely love in addition to everything the game currently has.

Nope. Sean said fan requested features like that would be something the team would add in as a free update after launch, but his original vision for the game does not include base building.

 

[Div3x]

Yes, i know about the robots but they only attack the player. I want real land battles, good vs bad. It would be really cool if they can make it work, a few land units fighting each other and above them a group of ships having an air battle, giving air support to the ground units.