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In theory that's cool, but particularly with procedural tech, I think a lot of designers would struggle to make something that didn't either telegraph it (Huge! Teeth!) or fill with annoying gotchas (Haha! Poisonous!).

Maybe a play on the anomalies of stalker. Though that could easily produce a whole shedload of "gotcha" scenarios. Since all anomalies in Stalker are mysteries until you fall victim to them or see what they do to NPCs. I found it added great tension to the game.

Personally I don't think I'd be much drawn to Proteus ad infinitum. Proteus worked because of its abridged length. I suspect the gameplay layer above the exploration parts is what will make or break the experience. You can't just throw in space battles and expect them to be interesting, for example. How long has that one guy been working on Enemy Starfighter? Which is just one tiny piece of what No Man's Sky is promising?

I agree it's a stunning trailer.

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Some helpful detail in this RPS writeup: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/12/09/first-look-no-mans-sky/

 

As you make your way towards the centre of the galaxy, the planet’s you pass are stepping stones along the way. You’ll land your ship on them and go hunting for resources. Those resources then, in some unexplained way, aid you in upgrading your ship and yourself. These upgrades allow you to travel larger distances, or maybe make you faster, or probably improve your guns. It’s still ambiguous. 

No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. But the galaxy is the same between everyone and actions of “significance” will be shared. If you kill a single bird, that won’t be shared. If you make an entire species of bird extinct, then those creatures will blink out of existence for everyone.

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Brilliant, that's a pretty thorough explanation of what to expect from the game. Satisfied, thorn?  :sombrero:

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The possibility of crash landing on a strange alien planet and being forced to survive after being shot down by space pirates is realllly exciting.

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Fantastic trailer, it really captures the imagination. Can I say I'd be happy with just a Proteus experience, but then with flying around on space ships and exploring oceans and skies and lakes?

 

I want a new Noctis IV too. I bought MirrorMoon because it's inspired by Noctis (though it's definitely its own thing). I'd be happier with this if there were no hints of combat etc. That would make it easier to go wild with the procedural generation too. 

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A fascinating and true thing in that Eurogamer preview, when the guy says that only a small team would be able to pull off something like this - a large EA-monger would get trapped in the planning and conception of it and it would never get off the ground. I agree.

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The possibility of crash landing on a strange alien planet and being forced to survive after being shot down by space pirates is realllly exciting.

 

Haha, yeah that sounds pretty awesome. I love the idea of boundless exploration and survivalism, but there is a part of me that can never full buy in to this without some kind of "history" engine. Maybe the game will play out some galactic struggle, and you can choose to play your role or not.

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HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH

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Satisfied, thorn?  :sombrero:

 

I have a better feel for what it's about, yeah. But I'm still going to take a 'wait and see' approach.

 

I find the quazi-multiplayer aspect a bit worrying. What if I get the game months after release and all the planets have been claimed and bird species wiped out? I hope they're going to be spreading new players out across the universe in an organic fashion.

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Well, given the procedural nature of it, there really shouldn't be a theoretical limit to the number of planets that exist (assuming the galaxy they're setting this in is as big as I'm hoping it is ie really really big). The devs set the seed for the generation of the game world so anyone that goes to a given location sees the same thing, but worlds can be generated on the fly wherever you travel to based on the seed/coordinates. Obviously there'd be practical limits to that especially dependent on the multiplayer part of it and how much data they want to store server side but hopefully you won't have to worry about running out of birds.

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The way I understand it so far is that the game is procedurally generated, but not necessarily infinite. And it's all generated PRIOR to game release. As in, the procedural generation is part of the development phase, and not part of the play phase. I'm sort of just assuming things here, though.

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I have a better feel for what it's about, yeah. But I'm still going to take a 'wait and see' approach.

 

I find the quazi-multiplayer aspect a bit worrying. What if I get the game months after release and all the planets have been claimed and bird species wiped out? I hope they're going to be spreading new players out across the universe in an organic fashion.

 

Mirror Moon solved this by having seasons where the servers would reset and regenerate the universe every few months.

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You guys know this game could end up sucking, right?

 

Who's talking about the game? We're indulging in a wonderful fantasy, for a thing that won't exist for a long time. Reasonable expectations don't apply here!

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Proc-gen can feel very soulless and expansively empty, so I'm usually really sceptical of it. This is beautiful enough already though that I just want to play around in it for a few hours, regardless of whether it's any good as a game.

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http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/12/09/first-look-no-mans-sky/

 

No Man’s Sky isn’t a multiplayer game, in as much as you’ll never see another player. But the galaxy is the same between everyone and actions of “significance” will be shared. If you kill a single bird, that won’t be shared. If you make an entire species of bird extinct, then those creatures will blink out of existence for everyone.

 

Thank the heavens. I want a lonely space exploration game. I'm fine with SimCity/Dark Souls-esque online-but-not as long as it means that I don't have to actively interact with other humans.

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I think, ever since Minecraft, that people have been re-evaluating their procedurally generated algorithms. The trick of having procedural generation take place on multiple layers - generate a high-level layout first, then drill down - helps give the worlds a soul they wouldn't otherwise have.

 

Proc-gen can feel very soulless and expansively empty, so I'm usually really sceptical of it.

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Here's the second part of the RPS interview. They talk about the procedural generation, saying that no one will ever see everything in the universe. And they explain the 'Every Atom Procedural' bit to a degree.

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I really appreciate that he took the time to specifically talk about procedural generation and what it is, because it seems like most people don't really know. They just think it means "oh everything's random". Procedural generation is the raddest thing.

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Yeah I just listed to the Bombcast where they described what they were told.

 

Sadly, no naming rights on locations. But man, everyone starts on the edge of the universe and your exploring the interior... sign me up.

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After all of the legitimate coverage i've absorbed (RPS, Polygon, Giant Bomb) I'm kind of not excited for this game any more.

Not that I expect it to be bad, in fact I still hope its amazing, but even if they manage to live up to their vision it doesn't seem like something i'm going to enjoy. I personally can never get attached to an open-experience game like this, minecraft, or even Skyrim. I guess I just enjoy purposeful direction (though Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 both are, for more complicated reasons, exempt from that rule).

I'll keep an eye on it regardless, as it seems like a fascinating GDC talk-to-come, but I'm kind of upset I won't be as excited as many gamers will be.

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Sounds like it could be as cool as the Spore space stages should have been, but it could quite possibly fall short and end up being as cool as the Spore space stages were in reality.

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