GRcade

Described by Hello's managing director, Sean Murray, as a "Han Solo simulator," it'll start you out on a little planet around the edge of its procedurally generated galaxy. Things on the galactic edge are easier, but maybe less interesting and/or lucrative. You can stick around and explore, scanning for useful materials and mining them for cash, or you can jump into your "life pod," a small starter spacecraft that can't venture beyond your current solar system, and start visiting other planets.

If you want to be a soldier, says Murray, you can take your life pod to a spaceport, buy a sturdier weaponized spaceship, and start hunting for enemies or protecting friendly ships, all with the goal of eventually becoming an unstoppable interstellar warrior. If you want to make money more quickly, you can start mining materials and selling them, eventually buying your own freighter to truck them across the cosmos. Or you can spend your time exploring and cataloging new species. The plan is to make it as free-form as possible, with no narrative but the one in your head; imagine Skyrim with spaceships, no quests, and the make-your-own-fun ethos of Minecraft's survival mode, and you'll have an idea of the vision here.

Learning Curve » Sat Jun 14, 2014 1:00 pm wrote:I wonder if this game will lead to the formation of factions and communities like in Eve. Honestly, Eve never really appealed to me because one look at the massive menus and volumes of data in that game was enough to scare me away. This looks much more welcoming to someone like me (i.e. a mid-level intelligence gamer with a day job). Possible it will end up functioning as a gateway drug to this type of genre.

1cmanny1 wrote:I still think that sounds like you will run out of things to do, flying around aimlessly is fun to do for a few hours but gets boring eventually (for example any open world game ever). People don't usually play Minecraft to explore.
They have a great start, they just need to focus on the planet/life element more. Add building, the ability to create or join civilizations, fight wars etc.

I just don't want it to end up like Spore.

Mogster wrote:No Mans Sky starts everyone on a different planet at the edge of the galaxy, light years from anyone else, and things get more interesting the further you head towards the centre, and presumably the likelyhood of encountering other players and their discoveries picks up as you do.

twitter.com/NoMansSky/status/431767084415328256

Saint of Killers » Sat Jun 14, 2014 2:48 pm wrote:In the IGN vid up there^ (and elsewhere) Murray says players will be playing in the same world but will be so far apart chances are they will never meet another player.

Does this mean No Man's Sky is an MMO? No, says Murray, although you will meet other players. He compares it to the PlayStation 3 game Journey, where players can drift into your game unexpectedly, making such encounters a potentially more special experience. It's not clear yet whether that'll be through behind-the-scenes matchmaking or just by dint of players' starting planets being so spread out, but it certainly sounds intriguing.