For many, Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky is still an enigma. It’s a game of indescribable scope that’s mostly about exploration and discovery. Players are spawned near the edge of the game’s procedurally generated (not randomly generated; they’re rather different things) universe – tasked them with exploring a near infinite space.
Like our own space, though, there’s an overwhelming chance that the planets you land on will be mind-numbingly dull; vast expanses of rocks and inhospitable clouds of gases.
“Ninety percent of the planets that you visit should be barren, because that’s how it would be in our universe and anything else would feel fake,” says Hello Games’ Shawn Murray. “And then 10-percent of them should have some life, but that life 90-percent of the time should just be some grass and some shrubbery or whatever, you know, some insignificant life. But 10-percent of the time — 10-percent of the 10-percent — it should be real life. But maybe just birds, fish, and things like that, smaller creatures, 90-percent of the time. And 10-percent of the time it should be something a bit more interesting, like four-legged creatures. But that four-legged creature 90-percent of the time should be super boring.”
“People always talk about us being the game with space dinosaurs in it or whatever, right?” Murray continued. “Even those, they will be one in a million—like genuinely one in a million, like 10-percent of 10-percent of 10-percent of 10-percent of 10-percent, right? But even then, even though they’re one in a million, 90-percent of the time they should be a boring version of that. And we save the crazy interesting creatures for not one in a million, but one in a hundred million.”
It’s a game that dually excites and worries me. It’s so wide in scope that it could lead to some of the most exciting, emergent experiences – but only for the few that manage to be the first to make these grand new discoveries on newly found planets. For the rest, it could end up being unbearably boring and barren. Many gamers, I suspect, will come away feeling like they’ve wasted their money – that in itself is part of No Man’s Sky’s allure, I suppose: the very chance to be the first to find something new and exciting.
“As much as we can possibly manage, this needs to feel real, and true to what it is, which is a galaxy,” says Murray.
It’s coming to the PlayStation 4 as a timed exclusive, before heading to the PC.
Last Updated: January 12, 2015
Splooshypooh
January 12, 2015 at 15:04
Kinda like playing minecraft on a flat uninhabited surface that you cant mine into? Worrisome
Chromatogram
May 22, 2015 at 06:37
it’s pretty
Chromatogram
May 22, 2015 at 06:37
it’s pretty
klova
August 24, 2015 at 00:12
you can mine into it.
Kromas Votes LAG WCMovie Event
January 12, 2015 at 15:04
Sooo … every other sandbox multiplayer game then. 100 hours of not really much happening and then 30 mins of intense excitement. I could go for that.
yeup
January 13, 2015 at 21:15
According to their estimates, it’d be 100 hours of boring and .1 seconds of thrill, quantitatively speaking…
afd
January 14, 2015 at 07:10
Sounds like sex with my wife. Good news is, we’re both dinosaurs.
Geoff Murphy
January 12, 2015 at 15:05
Please be good, please be good, please be good…
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:05
No dinosaurs? I would be INCONSOLABLE.
Daniel Paiva
January 12, 2015 at 21:13
There will be dinosaurs (kind of), just wil be hard to find! =P
ToshZA
January 12, 2015 at 15:10
So like, quite literally. If 1 million people buy this game – only 1 is expected to see something truly amazing? Yeah how is that fun? The whole point of games is fun, right? So why such low odds. Even if it was 1 in 100 000 it would be better, surely?
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:18
This is what happens when you try to make the real deal and finding out what is real aint that fun anymore,then you retreat back to your fantasy world where it was fun in the 1st place:-P
Lydon McG
January 12, 2015 at 16:14
Not exactly. You’re assuming that all of those 1 million people will play so little of the game that they end up visiting one planet, hence one in a million gets to see something amazing.
ToshZA
January 12, 2015 at 16:17
Not exactly. Basically, not many people will visit 1 million planets. Very few will even reach 1000. If one person visits say, 500 planets, that’s still a 0.05% chance to find an interesting planet. Now, if my first 50 planets are lifeless and dull, what inspiration is there to actually keep on exploring? Assuming at least 1 hour on each of those planets, that’s a LOT of time investment to MAYBE, after a few HUNDRED hours, find something cool…
Most people will lose interest before ever finding something cool, unless you beat the odds and find that 1 in a million planet in your first 50.
Ender
January 12, 2015 at 17:32
Not really, that would be true if there were only 1,000,000 planets, instead there are over 18,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in the game so there should be 18 trillion of amazing things to discover.(18 quintillion / 1 million = 1 trillion or 18,000,000,000,000 planets)
18 Trillion is a lot more than the entire human population, not to mention only ps4 gamers.
So no, if 1 million bought the game, each gamer would have 18 million of different and amazing things to discover and billion of other not so amazing planets to explore.
18 quintillion planets it’s way to much, it’s so exiting!
Swynjones
January 12, 2015 at 21:46
it doesn’t matter how many planets there are. It is down to the probability of visiting a planet with things of interest.
what Sean has said is that planets with interesting life forms (i.e dinosuars) will be 1 in a million therefore the odds are that on average you would have to visit 1 million planets to find dinosaurs. Assuming you play No Mans Sky every day and on average visit a new plant every day it would take you 1 million days, or 2739 years to find such a planet.
Doesnt matter if in total, there are 18 million planets with dinosaurs, the odds are low that you would find one.
This might of course change, given that other people are playing the game and planets with interesting life-forms will be highlighted to other gamers.
Ender
January 12, 2015 at 22:16
Yeah, in that case you guys are correct, the probabilities of finding some interesting life form is going to be very small, I can easily see someone playing this for weeks or months before finding something interesting, unless they have some kind of algorithm to have something interesting every some planets or so.
I actually like this, it shows some perspective on how insignificant the Earth is in the universe and how far humans are from finding life in other planets when right now we can’t do anything than look at not so distant planets and somehow visit our neighbor planets and moons.
I find this so intriguing. this “Game” it’s going to frustrate so many FPS players lol.
cr1t
January 13, 2015 at 08:47
Well I take it you might have to visit a million planets
To find something interesting.
Hopefully you could send out probes rather than making the trip to each planent
konfab aka derp
January 12, 2015 at 15:10
Just as long as they put in really fast FTL, I am OK with this.
Plus those empty planets will have no ethical problems with colonisation.
Jonah Cash
January 12, 2015 at 15:14
I still don’t get why this is called a game!! Would probably have been a better “game” on mobile….
RinceThis
January 12, 2015 at 15:14
Still very keen on this game!
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:15
Nothing to see here sky,
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:15
Well,that escalated quickly,hmmm Star Citizen Vs No Mans Sky for my next space sim,
At least i know i will shoot somethings in Star Citizen,flying forever to dull planets over and over is starting to worry me to.
And what about Aliens?With Ships?
Jonah Cash
January 12, 2015 at 15:16
Can someone provide me with a link with info on what this is??? I really don’t get this!! Is it just exploring, so you move from one planet to another never seeing the same thing? Is that all this is or am I missing something here?
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:17
Jonah Cash
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
Thank you, but that still doesn’t give me an explanation as to what this is!! I don’t think you will get me to explore 5 planets before I hang myself from one of those purple space dino’s!!
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:27
lol, that’s about as much as the give. I didn’t know you could get out though. Which makes it more interesting.
Jonah Cash
January 12, 2015 at 15:28
So now it is 5% interesting???? I will give this a big nope on my radar and hype meter!!
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:21
4:27 later and I still know nothing new
Mandom (Umar)
January 12, 2015 at 15:16
Wouldn’t it be easier to just restart to generate a new galaxy? Or am I missing something?
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:23
If I understand how it works correctly, everyone is playing in the same shared galaxy & stuff is procedurally generated when the first person arrives at a location. Thereafter it’s the same for everyone.
ToshZA
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
Which kind of punishes people who don’t buy on day 1. Sort of like a pre-order incentive, but it’s permanent and removes the point of the entire game.
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
The size of the universe is so large they claim you would very rarely run in to other players. So chances are everyone will have something to discover
ToshZA
January 12, 2015 at 15:26
Just 99.999% of it will be boring. To paraphrase what they’ve said about their own game.
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:27
yes
ToshZA
January 12, 2015 at 15:28
sighballs. This just lost all my interest. 🙁 And I actually was interested.
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:29
That’s what I’ve said all along is the problem I have with procedural generation games. There has to be something that keeps you coming back otherwise it gets boring very quickly.
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:35
Think they said it will take you about a million years or something to discover all the planets.
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:23
From what I gather the universe is the same for everyone. You just start at random points. So once someone discovers a planet and it’s procedurally generated, anyone else can then find that same planet with exactly the same features in exactly the same spot
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:24
snap lol
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
Lol I see so 🙂
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
I’ll find Thalis planet and erect a memorial in her honour 😛
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:27
erect WHAT!??!?!?!? SIES!!!
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:29
lol
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:31
I bet Darryn will be on the darkest corner of the planet in the fetal position:-P
Mandom (Umar)
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
lolz
Mandom (Umar)
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
Ahh which is why Geoff said it’s different to randomly generated which would’ve meant that someone would never have been able to get to your starting planet as its unique to your instance?
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:27
No, they’d be able to find your starting planet AFTER you have spawned it in the universe.
So you start a character, you end up on a starter planet, that planet is now part of the universe, discoverable as is to the rest of the players
Admiral Chief
January 12, 2015 at 15:28
I read the original article, was damn good. And you can post your coordinates to what you have found, or keep it “hidden” from the world until someone else MIGHT discover it
Mandom (Umar)
January 12, 2015 at 15:28
Ahh, well that’s really interesting. As they said, thats the allure of exploration though and it could actually work given the scope of the game
Ryanza
January 12, 2015 at 15:19
It’s international kiss a ginger day today. No Man’s Sky is about discovering planets. Mars is known as the red planet. Can’t we have international send gingers to Mars day.
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:21
South Park much hey?:-P
Oh and you forgot your tag.DRM,Witcher???
Ryanza
January 12, 2015 at 15:22
keeping it for ion.
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:21
Oh and Ginger Chicks are HOT!!!
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:24
O_o
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:40
Need i say more???0_O
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:53
IT’S A TRAP!
Ryanza
January 12, 2015 at 15:55
http://cdn.meme.am/instances/13919988.jpg
Admiral Chief
January 12, 2015 at 15:57
Bwaahahahahahahahaha NOOOO MY SOUL GEM, IT’S EMPTY!!!
Ryanza
January 12, 2015 at 15:24
Till they eat your heart out. That’s how they keep their hair red.
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:26
Fuck…O_0
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 16:31
And each freckle is the soul of the person they drained.
They drain you before eating your heart to keep the hair red
Splooshypooh
January 12, 2015 at 16:04
Like curry
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 16:10
MA SE HOENDERKERRIE!!!
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:23
My wife is a ginger….
Ryanza
January 12, 2015 at 15:25
Well there’s at least one day in the year that you can kiss her.
ToshZA
January 12, 2015 at 15:27
*have to
Admiral Chief
January 12, 2015 at 15:36
I can confirm this
Ghost In The Rift
January 12, 2015 at 15:41
What life line will he use?50/50???
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 15:21
Still want it
Admiral Chief
January 12, 2015 at 15:28
Same here
Admiral Chief
January 12, 2015 at 15:30
Llew would probably discover nothing…even after the 7th planet…
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:32
I heard his favourite movie stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.
Blood Emperor Trevor
January 12, 2015 at 15:33
What’s in the box?!?!
Not a PS4. trollol!
Hammersteyn
January 12, 2015 at 15:40
hahahahaha!
Norm (@e3zype3zy)
January 12, 2015 at 15:47
So you have more chances to win the lotto & powerball together than landing on a planet with life that can fart.
Raptor Rants A Lot
January 12, 2015 at 16:32
Oh and Geoff. Epic movie that.
So epic it’s INCONCEIVABLE!
dude
January 12, 2015 at 21:59
BoilingPoint comes to mind. Mind Numbing. Realistic scale is boring. Even Dayz comes to mind. Run. Keep Running.
Ralphie Ralpherson
January 13, 2015 at 06:32
I’m actually happy about this. It will make the big unique discoveries feel awesome. It’s got that Borderlandsesque “what’s the next great gun [planet] I’ll discover” feeling going for it. Most of the time you’ll find average stuff, but once in a while you’ll stumble across something mind boggling. And chances are nobody, including the developers, have ever seen it before.
Sageville
January 13, 2015 at 10:24
After playing Elite Dangerous I’m starting to enjoy the idea of a relatively “Infinite” universe sandbox games (400 Billion star systems). So when you do find something cool it’s actually a big thing.
I’m liking this as long as there are enough cool things out there to find.
Christopher Eddins
January 13, 2015 at 18:03
This seems like this could be addressed in a settings menu or something along the lines of settings per server that players can join. I have a job. I don’t have time to explore that many worlds and hope for something other than just barren landscape. Also, this is a game, in which landing on a world is going to be far less exciting than it would in real life. It would be best to allow someone to have an upper threshold of say life on 30% of planets with a percentage of that having large life forms.
Argus Dune
January 13, 2015 at 18:06
Wont be out till MAY 2019
Glasslife
January 13, 2015 at 20:04
This article makes it seem like more of an issue than it is. You will start at a random point probably thousands of miles from any other player. as you explore the planets around you they will likely all be shitty but when you find one with life or ruins or something cool then you just “save” it to the parent galaxy. Until you do that each planet is just some procedural map loaded by the game, it isn’t part of the galaxy until you save into the galaxy. so one side of the game is exploring new content to find interesting stuff, and the other side, which will probably be more popular will be to warp to other areas in the galaxy and tour planets that have already been saved, pretty much ensuring that you will get to see some cool stuff if someone else discovers it, even if it wasn’t you who first discovered it. from the trailers it looks like there is a mining or crafting element to the game so I guess if you find rare materials and formations then you haven’t wasted your time exploring a planet even if it is lifeless. To be honest this sounds like it might be a little much but I think if it went in the other direction and every planet had off the wall life forming on it then it would feel pretty hokey.
Tim
September 29, 2015 at 16:34
What about sentient beings? What are the chances of me visiting a planet, only to be kidnapped and, uh, probed uncomfortably?