I haven't seen this yet but I reeeeeally want to. Watching a Dragon fight a Giant in Dragon Age: Inquisition was a surreal experience. Type of thing that reminds you how far games have come.
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No Man's Sky - What changed over the course of development?
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I still think that if this had been released last year for £10 as a bare bones game but with large expacs every six months it would have been far better.
I honestly don't see the devs expanding it much farther.
I'm not a game developer, but I understand the fundamental need to make something require effort in order for any resulting payoffs to feel like progression and genuine success. If everything could be readily mined with ease, then no upgrades would be worthwhile or meaningful. You didn't "work" for anything. This has been a thing in Minecraft for years, but where was your megaphone then? Some materials are harder to gather than others, but can be remedied by assembling the right tools from the easier to gather materials. It's the same thing in NMS. Your dinky little mining tool is sufficient at first in gathering basic resources, which allow upgrades to be implemented, and so on and so forth.
This is mostly beside the point, but it's not like you've never had to hold down a button before in a video game. Why couldn't you just tap R2 and get to your destination in GTA? Why do you have to hold it, and why is it more meaningful? You're still "driving" all the same.
I don't think this comment is a good idea.
Plutonium and iridium are real elements, breh
Oh really? Shit lol
The game is very similar to what they have shown except that:
- Can't see other players. Can still see things they do, but not the model. For all intents and purposes there is no multiplayer. Technically multiplayer was never shown, but it was discussed.
- No giant sand worms spotted yet. Very well could be there still, though exceedingly (too) rare.
- Some physics stuff that you probably would never notice. Apparently you can't fly to any visible star, but considering this was supposed to take literal, real years, it's not a huge deal.
Overall I feel that the development was fairly transparent for something that wasn't crowd funded or really focused on documenting all of development. The multiplayer thing was kinda disappointing but it was never really touted as a major feature, so I'm not super wound up about it.
- Can't see other players. Can still see things they do, but not the model. For all intents and purposes there is no multiplayer. Technically multiplayer was never shown, but it was discussed.
- No giant sand worms spotted yet. Very well could be there still, though exceedingly (too) rare.
- Some physics stuff that you probably would never notice. Apparently you can't fly to any visible star, but considering this was supposed to take literal, real years, it's not a huge deal.
Overall I feel that the development was fairly transparent for something that wasn't crowd funded or really focused on documenting all of development. The multiplayer thing was kinda disappointing but it was never really touted as a major feature, so I'm not super wound up about it.
Disclaimer: Maybe some of this stuff is in there just very rare and undiscovered to my knowledge.
No big crashed freighter/starships on planets.
No giant sandsnakes/dune worms. No the eels and things don't count.
Working Portals. People have found the structures but no way to activate them as far as I know. Cut feature really late on?
AI Wingmen. 'Command RAGAR II' may have some other meaning, but several trailers showed starfighters joining you on your journey.
These Mega Structure planets?
The level of creature interaction where big creatures would impact the flora as well as scare off big herds of smaller beasties.
It feels like that not only was the engine and game misrepresented by the staged demos, but it seems like they were bordering on CGI at times due to how much better they looked and operated. When you include the fact the game only has "its fucking nothing" troll endings and the ability to meet other players is not in there, it feels like half the game is missing.
This just literally isn't the same game we got.
UncleSporky
Member
How about this?
This was a much-vaunted/publicized information repository, created by fans to answer the constant questions of "what do you do in No Man's Sky?"
It is comprised of many articles and interviews from over the years with sources.
So we just have to go through there to see what did and didn't make the cut.
I would say...I don't know, maybe this is a bit paranoid, but do it sooner rather than later before the creator of the site realizes it's still up and takes it down, since it's full of elements that turned out not-quite-as-expected.
One thing I noticed right away that stands out to me is this, from the Factions section:
Aren't there only 3 alien races in the game? Not a bunch of procedurally generated ones?
And there aren't AI wingmen.
This was a much-vaunted/publicized information repository, created by fans to answer the constant questions of "what do you do in No Man's Sky?"
It is comprised of many articles and interviews from over the years with sources.
So we just have to go through there to see what did and didn't make the cut.
I would say...I don't know, maybe this is a bit paranoid, but do it sooner rather than later before the creator of the site realizes it's still up and takes it down, since it's full of elements that turned out not-quite-as-expected.
One thing I noticed right away that stands out to me is this, from the Factions section:
Aren't there only 3 alien races in the game? Not a bunch of procedurally generated ones?
And there aren't AI wingmen.
Krappadizzle
Member
I agree. But I do see them developing and expanding on this. Hopefully.
I've never played Minecraft. Don't really care to.
In regards to GTA, are you saying the journey of mining(in this case holding a button down) in NMS is the adventure?
OuterLimits
Member
I'm sure the game will get some decent updates though hopefully. Whether they are free or some are paid DLC remain to be seen.
funroll-loops
Member
Based on articles in The Atlantic and The New Yorker :
The game no longers simulates it's own periodic table in order to determine light diffraction in the atmosphere. For that matter, I don't think light diffracts at all in no man's sky. Maybe simulating procedural interactions at the atomic level was too performance intensive.
The edges of the universe no longer extend into a lifeless abyss on either the galaxy map or within any given solar system
Sea level is no longer affected by the color of creatures (that we know of)
Advanced weather simulation was removed (possibly a side effect of removing the subatomic atmosphere simulation)
The game no longers simulates it's own periodic table in order to determine light diffraction in the atmosphere. For that matter, I don't think light diffracts at all in no man's sky. Maybe simulating procedural interactions at the atomic level was too performance intensive.
The edges of the universe no longer extend into a lifeless abyss on either the galaxy map or within any given solar system
Sea level is no longer affected by the color of creatures (that we know of)
Advanced weather simulation was removed (possibly a side effect of removing the subatomic atmosphere simulation)
Go here - They get real original with the elements
http://nomanssky.gamepedia.com/Resource
The majority of the elements are on our periodic table.
Yes, I apologize about the pop in thing, but when you tout that you created a periodic table for your game so you can recolor the sky. I can't help but take issue. Devs need to be upfront on what they are making and stop sugar coating it.
i definitely watched and read everything about the game from the beginning and i feel like they delivered what i hoped the game would be.
in terms of multiplayer i recall hearing over and over that everyone is in the same universe, but because it's so massive the possibility of actually meeting someone is slim to none. i was under the impression that any multiplayer aspects would be like in the souls games where you could leave messages that others might find, and we do sort of have that in that you can name a planet / animal / system a message that others see. i would like to see this type of souls multiplayer more fleshed out in nms.
the popin seems to have been improved a lot, which maybe was fixed during the first patch.
other than that, i'm not sure if this is something that changed over development but it is something that has been on my mind while playing: i felt like the messaging was that you could play the game in completely different ways, almost like different classes: as an explorer, trader, pirate, etc....i heard if you don't want to play one way, you don't have to. and for me the recent 4 videos: explore, trade, fight, survive re-affirmed that (I THOUGHT). but i don't think you really have a choice. you have to explore, trade, fight, and survive or you will die.
following the Atlas path is like following the story missions and objective-based path laid out in GTA and other open world games. this has been a surprise, that i didn't expect. i sort of remember hearing that sean's initial idea was for the game to be more sim and people were brought in to help add more traditional game elements.
in terms of multiplayer i recall hearing over and over that everyone is in the same universe, but because it's so massive the possibility of actually meeting someone is slim to none. i was under the impression that any multiplayer aspects would be like in the souls games where you could leave messages that others might find, and we do sort of have that in that you can name a planet / animal / system a message that others see. i would like to see this type of souls multiplayer more fleshed out in nms.
the popin seems to have been improved a lot, which maybe was fixed during the first patch.
other than that, i'm not sure if this is something that changed over development but it is something that has been on my mind while playing: i felt like the messaging was that you could play the game in completely different ways, almost like different classes: as an explorer, trader, pirate, etc....i heard if you don't want to play one way, you don't have to. and for me the recent 4 videos: explore, trade, fight, survive re-affirmed that (I THOUGHT). but i don't think you really have a choice. you have to explore, trade, fight, and survive or you will die.
following the Atlas path is like following the story missions and objective-based path laid out in GTA and other open world games. this has been a surprise, that i didn't expect. i sort of remember hearing that sean's initial idea was for the game to be more sim and people were brought in to help add more traditional game elements.
ichtyander
Member
I wish I could play the game but it's pretty much impossible for me ATM (on PC), but from the few hours I powered through and from a few streams I've seen, these two screens are probably the most different for me, or I should say what I'm bummed about a lot.
Maybe I just haven't encountered such systems and situations (as I said, can't really play still), but the visibility distance of asteroids and their density/numbers is far greater than what you can see in the game. The stuff I've seen so far is much closer to this:
What I mean is, in general, the density and number of details and their visibility distance (on certain details) has degraded noticeably. I can understand why, I'm sure they were struggling with the performance so had to make compromises.
What's disappointing about it is that these details, more precisely the sense of scale and space, at least for me, create the feeling of actually being in outer space, the vastness of it, as well as experiencing reasonably thick and tall forests or deep canyons, flying under arches etc. The game world generally looks like a squished down, foggy version of what it might've been had this game come out a decade later (in terms of current console and PC technology, I'm not saying the game's in such an unfinished state that it needs a decade of work, just to be clear).
So the little time I managed to drag through, it didn't feel like I was in a galaxy, in a solar system, and only partially like being on a planet. To be fair though, a lot of it looks very similar to earlier demos (apart from the aforementioned visibility and density), and if you stop struggling and accept what this game actually is you might have some fun with it (as I hope I will eventually
), all flaws aside. But for the 5 hours or so I had time with it so far, it didn't manage to achieve what I think Sean wanted, to drag me into its world and, at least for a moment make me feel like I'm inside one of those old sci-fi book covers.Yep I watched the video just today and thought the same.
Fredrik
Member
IGN apparently confessed that it was the PC version, Sony mght've forced them to never mention any other version than PS4 but Hello Games wanted to impress as much as they could.
I've seen a big trading outpost with 5 landing pads, 3 at the front and 1 at each side and some kind of waiting hall in the middle like on airports.
Depends on what you define as "adventure" but sure, I'd consider it part of the overall adventure. Every adventure in video games is a series of buttons being pressed at varying lengths of time anyways, so I'm not quite sure what your point is?
Prisoner KSC2-303
Member
The main issue I have with regards changes is the amount of lifeforms you see. Maybe I've been very lucky, but I've not seen any evidence of the supposed ten to one ratio, where the majority of planets were supposed to be pretty barren. Hopefully it's because I'm still in the first system and it's more conducive to life.
I have had two or three moments like this. Perhaps not to such fidelity but very similar. And animations/behaviors have definitely been toned down. That video is like a proof of concept. You have to learn to play the game slowly and open your eyes.
I haven't played it yet but have watched hours and hours and have talked with friends and read gripes. The biggest thing that irks me is that it's trying to be a survival game but lacks any if the survival aspects in terms of letting players fail. Resources that are necessary are abundant. Out in space fuel is around you at all times. On planets outposts and resources are always present. It makes planets the same of they all provide what you need. Let the player learn from failure like Minecraft does. Let the player learn to differentiate between when they should journey and when they should stock up. Lack of proper storage or a way to store items is lacking or needs tweaking. Monster Hunter is a great example of a game that has you learn from mistakes and allow for you to then prepare via crafting gear and tools and items.
There's more I could give details for but I'm on mobile.
Also by having bots and aliens so prevalent makes the lone journeyman spiel feel empty and insulting. I'm not exploring if shits already planted with an outpost and surveyed heavily by drones. It's the opposite.
There's more I could give details for but I'm on mobile.
Also by having bots and aliens so prevalent makes the lone journeyman spiel feel empty and insulting. I'm not exploring if shits already planted with an outpost and surveyed heavily by drones. It's the opposite.
CraigerGamer
Member
There is a mode where this is the case but in survival this isn't true at all. Maybe I missed the sarcasm...
PeakPointMatrix
Member
It was the same for me, but in my latest two hyper space jumps, I've just visited 5 or 6 planets that have been devoid of life. I could see why they raised it up to more than the 10-to-1 rule, since at my 6th planet, things are getting kinda drab without any wildlife at all. But different experiences may prove otherwise.
Gettin kinda lonely
Minecraft is one of the best games of the last ten years. I'm not generally into that sort of thing either - I'm into my Dark Souls' and Last of Us's and Witchers.
Give it a bash.
inpHilltr8r
Member
MIND BLOWN!
Pestilence11
Member
Besides the planets not moving at all, like I said earlier, there was originally going to be element combining to have crafting more like Minecraft. Sean Murray talked about the community having to come together to figure out recipes. Now there's blueprints and basic materials.
Mr_Appleby
Member
I've seen predators attack a flock of grazing herbivores. I also salvaged a crashed spaceship last night - not a huge cargo ship but a nice looking fighter that was a good upgrade over my starting ship.
There are other more immediate issues I have, like not being able to set real custom waypoints - I've heard you can tag structures but it didn't work on the crashed ship, I had to walk ~1.30 back to my ship and fly by landmark back to the crash site which does seem ridiculous when the rest of the UI is cluttered with waypoint markers.
Also the ability to hide the questline prompts would also be nice.
There are other more immediate issues I have, like not being able to set real custom waypoints - I've heard you can tag structures but it didn't work on the crashed ship, I had to walk ~1.30 back to my ship and fly by landmark back to the crash site which does seem ridiculous when the rest of the UI is cluttered with waypoint markers.
Also the ability to hide the questline prompts would also be nice.
False Witness
Member
Upgraded mining tools bash through crystals and the smaller resource things pretty much instantly.
Yeah it's dope
Caayn
Member
toddhunter
Member
Multiplayer couldn't even make it into the OP
I think the "what do you do?" Influence is strong on a number of these points. You can't just discover stuff, you need to press a button because "AAA" gameplay.
I think the "what do you do?" Influence is strong on a number of these points. You can't just discover stuff, you need to press a button because "AAA" gameplay.
I've found a ton of busy and non busy with many ships coming and going or not.
A complaint I have in goddamn general in games, is how when you really need a crafting material in games, no one's ever fucking selling or dropping it. They program shit this way. It's the same for the majority of loot rpgs also. Pick a class and I'm sure everyone on Gaf can tell you what gear and items, you won't find. Pic a Warrior, you'll be finding mostly staffs and bows and arrows etc etc..etc..etfuckingcetra.
I went through a black hole and it killed my best warp upgrade. Of course I had to completely scrounge for the stuff to craft and fix it. I mean scrounge, it took me six real hours to fix it the first time. The others not too bad.
This happened 3 times using black holes. I don't have a problem with a black hole doing this but the continuing bullshit of scrounging for the sake of difficulty boils my blood. I don't want it handed to me just random.
Correct me if wrong, maybe it's just my luck as the game is procedurally generated.
ReplacementPelican
Member
I haven't even played the game for very long and I've found several of those.
UncleSporky
Member
Oh yeah, I remember that!
It was discussed in a sort of watercooler/playground sharing sort of way.
"Hey I combined dorkium and sparkium and it made smirkium which recharges my life support quickly!"
And players would then be like "thanks for the tip bro" and be on the lookout for those two elements, but some of them would never find one of the elements but would find something different entirely which would have its own combination effects.
Prisoner KSC2-303
Member
It was the same for me, but in my latest two hyper space jumps, I've just visited 5 or 6 planets that have been devoid of life. I could see why they raised it up to more than the 10-to-1 rule, since at my 6th planet, things are getting kinda drab without any wildlife at all. But different experiences may prove otherwise.
Gettin kinda lonely
Cheers, glad to know it's not just me.
Yup, my multitool has +1 through +3 in for mining beam with like 2 coolants plus in +3 it's both power and coolant upgrade. It melts iron pretty quick. The only thing I want to know is does the combat beam, not boltcaster make it even better for mining also?
@PeakPointMatrix
Yeah, yesterdays playthrough for hours was devoid of life. Then boom I hit some really nice planets. Even found a cool sea predator, wanted a pic but never found him again.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I wonder how many folks playing don't know about the differences in planets found around various star colors and the need to make better hyperdrives to get to rarer stars. It was probably a major mistake to not give the player some form of vague hint that star spectral classes would affect planet generation and the density of life found on them. Outside that, I'm not sure what to think about the way the game has fallen short of its many goals. It's the kind of game that can be greatly overhauled through updates and patches, and I wonder how much work HG is prepared to put into it.
For the immediate future, my primary disappointment is with the totally fake star systems and lack of orbital mechanics. It takes a lot of the excitement out of going to new systems since every one is just going to be a rectangular box with a 2D star decal at one end, and a bunch of fixed planets vaguely lined up down a corridor in front of it. Not to mention moons not moving. It just makes the universe in NMS feel wrong and unconvincing.
It kind of seems that they wanted to evoke a certain image so hard, they compromised the game to achieve it. They wanted every system to present the same beauty shot of three or four worlds in view when warping in, every skybox to show the rest of the system lined up overhead. But making the game so contrived actually keeps moments like that from feeling special.
For the immediate future, my primary disappointment is with the totally fake star systems and lack of orbital mechanics. It takes a lot of the excitement out of going to new systems since every one is just going to be a rectangular box with a 2D star decal at one end, and a bunch of fixed planets vaguely lined up down a corridor in front of it. Not to mention moons not moving. It just makes the universe in NMS feel wrong and unconvincing.
It kind of seems that they wanted to evoke a certain image so hard, they compromised the game to achieve it. They wanted every system to present the same beauty shot of three or four worlds in view when warping in, every skybox to show the rest of the system lined up overhead. But making the game so contrived actually keeps moments like that from feeling special.
Yeah, big issues.
Also, tech is barebones. All you do is boost your starting gear - there's no development of new tech to provide new avenues of play styles.
Mammoth Jones
Member
I love the exploration aspect. And the resource management. But I do think storage should be optimized slightly. Some items simply need to be stackable. I understand not being near your ship and having to manage your haul is a part of the game as is expanding your inventory slots I just wish a bypass chip didn't take up the same space as 250.
Also the space combat portion of the game absolutely needs to be expanded and refined. And not just random encounters of someone scanning your ship and fighting them off. But actual structure. I dunno, some organization you can hire yourself out as a space merc and go on quests/missions. Something. And yes, with allied NPC's.
Ship customization. Sitting in a star-base hoping a ship I like happens to land is beyond frustrating. If there's a dedicated ship vendor I haven't found it.
The game has so much potential. In time I expect to see more content.
I understand not everything made it to launch. If they continue to iterate writhing a reasonable time it should be a moot point eventually.
Also the space combat portion of the game absolutely needs to be expanded and refined. And not just random encounters of someone scanning your ship and fighting them off. But actual structure. I dunno, some organization you can hire yourself out as a space merc and go on quests/missions. Something. And yes, with allied NPC's.
Ship customization. Sitting in a star-base hoping a ship I like happens to land is beyond frustrating. If there's a dedicated ship vendor I haven't found it.
The game has so much potential. In time I expect to see more content.
I understand not everything made it to launch. If they continue to iterate writhing a reasonable time it should be a moot point eventually.
Fuck man. If QA and play testers are to blame.... Fuck them. Elite Dangerous exists. Science in schools exist. Rotation of planets and solar systems should NOT be befuddling players...
Not saying you have to but Minecraft, Terraria, Starbound, etc would have prepared you for the mining aspect.
It's such a good feeling when you get, craft better tools later in the game.
Mammoth Jones
Member
Orbital mechanics isn't the problem with the game. An expansive sandbox with precious few activities is at the root of the problem
None of the rare systems to be explored matters if the core gameplay is too mundane and non-entertaining for folks to get to that point.
And I actually really like No Mans Sky but ea them flaws are readily apparent. People's expectations were high for whatever reasons but at the end of the day it didn't deliver on some fronts.
I do think they crushed the procedural generation. Maybe this is a lesson in putting all your weight into tech without considering gameplay at the forefront, I dunno...
Specialmias
Member
Serious thought, if they took the elite dangerous route ( which is the closest thing to NMS we have) and made most planets barren rocks would the game have been better? If we wandered a sea of random rocky planets with resources to explore only to find ruins, buildings and life on rare one every 200 planets would the game be better because it would make discoveries more rewarding? Maybe make the rocky barren planets all have ruins or something? Or maybe barren rocks that you stumble on a cave and find all the life hiding there? Same with oceans? All of this seems easily implementable but it does seem like they wanted every planet to be ideal.
It seems that was originally the plan....???
https://repo.nmsdb.info/info/Amount_of_Life
Its because the star is faked. It moves in relation to player when exploring the planet, its static in space. Basically they made player-planet centric solar system...
Krappadizzle
Member
I'm just not a fan of the art direction. I love good pixel art in games, but Minecraft just doesn't appeal to me. I may try it sooner than later though just to see how well it works with the HTC Vive. Terraria was gifted to me, but I still haven't played it. In the backlog.
When I first saw NMS, I was hoping it was gonna be more like Elite but with you being able to land on planets seamlessly with a buddie.
Yeah, Elite
angerous casts a large shadow over NMS in many areas. Recreating the galaxy 1:1 with accurate rotations and distances is a big one. Playing with friends and able to do a lot of things together is another. As well as better graphics and sound design. Not to mention player influence of in-game events. If Eliteangerous had the procgen tech of NMS in regards to exploring planets with things on them, it'd be a damn near perfect space game for me.UncleSporky
Member
There are a lot of texture mods for it, but keep in mind there's no getting around the inherent "giant blocky cubes" thing.
Minecraft is very cool in the Vive. I would say you should get used to the game outside of VR first, so you can appreciate what it's like to play with it on, explore houses you built yourself etc. Try putting a good 5-10 hours into it first.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Even with thin game mechanics, a big part of the purported appeal of NMS is the feeling of seamlessly flying around a miniature universe. It's aimed at people who like space and want to fly through the cover of a classic science fiction novel. So personally I think the poor, lifeless construction of its solar systems is a real turnoff. Also, it leads into another issue ->
I think it's fine for NMS to be a somewhat cartoonish representation of a space sandbox. Exaggeration can evoke a feeling more real than reality. If planets were organized with proper orbits - even if closer to one another than real life - much of the problem with directing exploration might be solved by making planets within a certain orbital band commonly have atmosphere and some life. While planets close to the star are hot and radiated, but with some rewards there in terms of resources, and planets further away were the cold and barren ones, but again with some resources or attraction unique to them.
That way players would quickly learn what to aim for when exploring a new system based upon their needs or desires. And the settings could be tweaked so that not every system has a planet in a certain orbital band. Maybe planets in the Earth-type orbit would only happen every few dozen systems, but the rest of the system could be full of planets in other orbital bands with wildly varied and interesting environments, falling in the extremes of hot and cold. An impact on exploration there might be that if someone doesn't want to deal with the survival elements too much, they could scan a new system, see if the Earth-type band is empty, and then warp out immediately.
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