No man's sky

[Glosni]

Probably the most talked about game this year at E3 (so far, Fallout4 annoucement coming up?), and if you don't know what I am talking about, dat trailer:

This freaking huge game is being done by a four men studio and one of the devs said in a gamespot interview: we want to get away from levels, quests (aka "I lost my three chickens, find them!"), handholding etc. Really Really like hearing that!

I mean it looks and sounds amazing, I have been waiting for years for somebody to REALLY just do this game. Freespace I+II and Freelancer are two of my favourite games!

Problems that I see:
1.) We don't really know anything at this point, no gameplay and stuff, just a couple of trailers. What if its just a messy gumbo out of Minecraft, DayZ, maybe a bit of WoW and Spore?

2.) It kinda like sounds to good to be true. Anyone remember the Peter Monyleux and Black&White debacle? It was hailed as this huge shift in gaming and turned out to be... just another game. Hopefully this doesn't happen here.

Opinions, thoughts? Anybody?

 

[Xaios]

It certainly looks intriguing, although the sense of scale moving from planetary to space environments and back seemed pretty off.

 

[MFB]

It certainly looks intriguing, although the sense of scale moving from planetary to space environments and back seemed pretty off.

This.

When they went to that last planet, it was basically like 3 seconds between space and surface, which isn't really how it works at all. When they left the original planet it seemed to do a decent job, but not the opposite.

 

[Xaios]

Indeed. It made the distance between planets seem like a short afternoon drive.

 

[loqtrall]

When they went to that last planet, it was basically like 3 seconds between space and surface, which isn't really how it works at all. When they left the original planet it seemed to do a decent job, but not the opposite.

See: Video Game

Let's all focus on the "realism" factor when it comes to distance but completely ignore realism when it comes to Dinosaur-like creatures and space combat. Not to mention the fact that realistic distance between planets or ground-to-space would make for a monotonously boring trip/game. I doubt anyone wants to spend 3 minutes travelling from the surface of a planet to outer space or spend 5-10 years travelling from one planet to another. Come on, now; let's think *realistic*.

And I know someone will recommend a "fast travel" system to make up for "realistic distance", but then where's the fun in the space exploration aspect of the game?

 

[RickSchneider]

I think this looks incredible, and I cannot wait to pick it up. I really hope the activities present pose enough interest to keep you playing beyond trophy/achievement hunting and the like. I'm so unsure how they're going to do this, but as they said it's really up to you what you do: "Explore, fight, trade, whatever". At this point it sounds too good to be true, let's hope it just delivers some or most of what they say - that will still make it incredible!

Also, I've got to ask - where do the loading screens come in?

 

[loqtrall]

Also, I've got to ask - where do the loading screens come in?

I seems there won't be any, really. Maybe an initial one at the beginning, to load the game in general. But everything is randomly, procedurally generated, sort of like "loading area" message you get at the bottom of the screen in Morrowind or Oblivion, but it's loading randomly generated planets/space/etc. instead of a predetermined map area, and with next gen technology the "loading area"-type message doesn't have to show up, the screen won't freeze at all, and everything seems "seamless" like there are no loading screens. Basically it just streams and loads the "random" portions of the game while you're exploring what's in front of you, like a Youtube video.

 

[loqtrall]

Also, when it comes to the "too good to be true" aspect of it, it does seem that way when you think a studio of 4 programmers and 3 artists are creating the game. But I saw the very (very very very) early stages of this game YEARS ago. They've been secretly working on it for a very, very long time, and I'm sure it won't be released until mid-late 2015, which means they're still probably working very hard on it.

It seems to me that it's not like some huge developer popping out another AAA unoriginal title, and that this tiny indie studio is taking this game very seriously.

 

[RickSchneider]

When it comes to randomly generated landscapes though - they said planets will form when a player joins, so essentially a player has a "home planet" which they can first explore and kind of call their own. Presumably this means these first planets will remain constant for players and that the game will need to load ALL of these planets to have a consistent universe. Am I not wrong or does this seem like much more of a task than to have a procedurally generated universe which can change?

 

[MFB]

See: Video Game

Let's all focus on the "realism" factor when it comes to distance but completely ignore realism when it comes to Dinosaur-like creatures and space combat. Not to mention the fact that realistic distance between planets or ground-to-space would make for a monotonously boring trip/game. I doubt anyone wants to spend 3 minutes travelling from the surface of a planet to outer space or spend 5-10 years travelling from one planet to another. Come on, now; let's think *realistic*.

And I know someone will recommend a "fast travel" system to make up for "realistic distance", but then where's the fun in the space exploration aspect of the game?

See also: suspension of disbelief



Edit: I was going to leave it at that, but no, this does require more. See, in SPACE, the dinosaur thing does become suspendable because hey - it's SPACE. Who knows what other planets have for inhabitants, and this is clearly the case they've thought of because grass and terrain is different colored, the sky isn't blue because that's specific to our world, and you've got dinosaurs and hybrid creatures roaming the land like the GIANT RHINO that crashes through a forest. I get that, because it makes sense. But what we as HUMANS also know, is that space is ....ing huge. Like, there are places we can't go to within our lifespan huge. Combine that knowledge with the idea of gravitational pull between planets and think of how crippling that distance between the two planets would be, and now just chalk up that 3 second inter-planetary travel to "vidya gamz hurr durr" and see how well it holds up.

Probably like the Dark Knight Rises script under more than one viewing...

 

[RickSchneider]

See also: Realism vs. fun

 

[MFB]

See also: Realism vs. fun

Don't get me wrong, I'm genuinely interested in this at the moment, but there are some parts that we've just mentioned that are a bit wonky and I'll just kind of have to gloss over. I'm not being a stickler because I'm against the game. Hell, they put space dogfighting in the game between planets, let's have more of that shit so that the distance seems spaced out (no pun intended).

 

[loqtrall]

See also: suspension of disbelief



Edit: I was going to leave it at that, but no, this does require more. See, in SPACE, the dinosaur thing does become suspendable because hey - it's SPACE. Who knows what other planets have for inhabitants, and this is clearly the case they've thought of because grass and terrain is different colored, the sky isn't blue because that's specific to our world, and you've got dinosaurs and hybrid creatures roaming the land like the GIANT RHINO that crashes through a forest. I get that, because it makes sense. But what we as HUMANS also know, is that space is ....ing huge. Like, there are places we can't go to within our lifespan huge. Combine that knowledge with the idea of gravitational pull between planets and think of how crippling that distance between the two planets would be, and now just chalk up that 3 second inter-planetary travel to "vidya gamz hurr durr" and see how well it holds up.

Probably like the Dark Knight Rises script under more than one viewing...

So what you're telling me is that, throughout the universe (because we could never know), there could possibly be dinosaur-like creatures on small-ish, life-supporting planets with unexplained light sources, no effect on "earthlike" gravity or atmosphere, but there's no way there could possibly be planets extremely close to each other, nor can there be a form of travel (space ship, ooooooooo) that could get you back and forth between said planets in a timely manner?

Your argument was that there can be dinosaurs on unexplained earth-like planets because anything could exist in the universe, but fail to realize that, by your own argument, *small* distances between neighboring planets and forms of transportation to travel those small distances quickly could also exist, just like the dinosaurs on said planets.

tl;dr - Basically you're saying "anything can be possible in the universe, because we can't disprove it. But, small distances between planets and fast transportation between those planets SPECIFICALLY cannot exist, or are less likely to exist than dinosaur-like lifeforms on earth-like planets."? Because that makes no sense. You can't say "Everything is possible in the universe" and then say "But that's not possible in the universe."

 

[loqtrall]

Or are you just saying that distance (what we know of distance as Humans) is a nonchanging thing in the universe, but that life, matter, etc. CAN change in the universe? Which also makes no sense, because we don't actually KNOW everything about the universe. For all we know, we could be a small atom that makes up a pimple on an adolescent, teenage being's ass cheek. Anything COULD be possible, we just don't know. Saying "That travel time/distance ratio is unrealistic" is just like me saying "Those dinosaur aliens are unrealistic".

EDIT: And to end my side of the debate, and to answer your response to my "See: Video Game" comment: It's a video game. Arguing "realistic" aspects of an obviously non-realistic (with human knowledge of the universe) game is absolutely pointless. Oh, and I like how you took me saying "See: Video Games" and translated it to "Vidya Gamz Hurr Durr".

 

[loqtrall]

When it comes to randomly generated landscapes though - they said planets will form when a player joins, so essentially a player has a "home planet" which they can first explore and kind of call their own. Presumably this means these first planets will remain constant for players and that the game will need to load ALL of these planets to have a consistent universe. Am I not wrong or does this seem like much more of a task than to have a procedurally generated universe which can change?

Well not much has been revealed. So far all that's being revealed is that it's a "exploration/survival" game. They haven't explained whether or not there will be "home planets", but only that you will most likely SPAWN on a planet. What I'm willing to bet is that there won't be much "objective" to the game other than exploration/survival, and that once you leave a "major" area of planets/space that has already been generated that it will most likely disappear, and if you try to go back to them, something completely different will be generated. And I realize that idea's not exactly ideal, but who knows.

From the gameplay they showed/information they released, it doesn't seem like it's going to be an objective based game, and it's basically going to be a game just to explore anything that you can find and try not to die doing it. I won't exactly mind it, because I love exploring games like TES, Fallout, etc. in place of doing actual quests/missions. But I don't presume the game will be tasteful for people who would rather do actual quests/missions. I'm under the impression that the game will just be completely random exploration/survival at all points of gameplay, which I find very gratifying as someone who absolutely ADORES exploration games. They're basically serving a plate to people who want to explore vast landscapes infinitely and randomly.

I'm also assuming that, since the "infinite" random content is so constricting towards other gameplay aspects (objectives, missions, quests, etc.), which is ironic, and since it's also an indie title not made by a AAA developer, that it won't really cost much. Maybe $30-45. And by what I've seen so far, I couldn't care less. I'd pay $60 for this game.

 

[loqtrall]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it seems like the small development team isn't trying to make this a game that has a major objective or main storyline to complete, and that they just want to create a game for people to enjoy the beauty of exploring everything that is unknown and completely random to you. I guess they're marketing to a small niche of gamers, but even all my gamer friends who range from diehard FPS fans to shut-in RPG players were all off their seats screaming about this game.

It looks absolutely fabulous, and I think the idea behind it is genius. Not to mention a studio of 4-7 people pulled this off. Amazing.

 

[goherpsNderp]

there was an interview with the creator on the PS youtube channel's live coverage and he talked a bit about how gameplay is supposed to work, although he did ramble on a bit.

basically it sounds like you can gather resources, discover and catalog plants and wild life, shoot/kill things if you want, get in your ship and go attack or defend cargo ships, upgrade/craft new equipment and upgrades to your tools, weapons, and ship.

and that's about as specific as he got. i really feel like at this point they are nailing down the planet generation system, and THEN they'll work more on the core gameplay stuff. these guys made Joe Danger, so i have confidence in them.

 

[Repner]

Indeed. It made the distance between planets seem like a short afternoon drive.

Considering the amount of time they'd have to show their stuff at E3, perhaps it was cut down to fit their time slot?

Either way, this was the part of the conference that really made me sit up. It really looks amazing.

 

[Glosni]

Jesus, is this guy serious? I think it was this interview where one of the devs said about multiplayer / interaction with other human players basically this: There will be planet-sized planets in the game, so even with a million players on one planet, you will hardly ever run into someone. Now imagne that with an entire universe!

Also interessesting: When other players explore the universe, your map gets updated. Well from the look on things on your map you can sort of guess where there are for instance trade routes, in case you want to blow up a freighter. But then the dev said that he thinks some player will take the sort of lone wolf approach and stay away from those areas, maybe because they feel like other human players are nothing but trouble.

 

[Xaios]

See: Video Game

Let's all focus on the "realism" factor when it comes to distance but completely ignore realism when it comes to Dinosaur-like creatures and space combat. Not to mention the fact that realistic distance between planets or ground-to-space would make for a monotonously boring trip/game. I doubt anyone wants to spend 3 minutes travelling from the surface of a planet to outer space or spend 5-10 years travelling from one planet to another. Come on, now; let's think *realistic*.

And I know someone will recommend a "fast travel" system to make up for "realistic distance", but then where's the fun in the space exploration aspect of the game?

The thing about "space exploration" is that the space itself is never the exciting part, it's what you find in space that makes the trip worthwhile. Besides, you can't treat space like Skyrim. You can't treat it like there's a surprise around every corner, because in space, there are no corners.

Also, I play Kerbal Space Program. 3 minues travelling from a planet's surface to outer space is easy-mode by comparison.

In fact, adding the danger of improper planetary insertions would add an another dimension to the gameplay. Imagine if you crashed your ship and you had to either gather resources to fix it or wait for another player to come and help you, perhaps a player who' going to steal all your stuff and kill you for your trouble?

Jesus, is this guy serious? I think it was this interview where one of the devs said about multiplayer / interaction with other human players basically this: There will be planet-sized planets in the game, so even with a million players on one planet, you will hardly ever run into someone. Now imagne that with an entire universe!

That's good, because the planets in their demo video were about the size of a city, not a planet.