# No Man's Sky - First star to the right, and straight on till morning
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701
**Category:** The Game Room
**Tags:** video-games-e-games
**Created:** [July 12, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701 "2016-07-12T01:16:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/181 "2016-08-12T19:33:04Z")
Yes, I’ve seen YouTube videos with giant monoliths of gold.
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/182 "2016-08-12T19:41:01Z")
Sounds like Metroid Prime. Oh, you have to get your equipment back and do some exploring and fighting. Great, every world you visit is unique and cool.
NMS has a quintillion planets that are all the same but with different color schemes and nothing in particular to do but blast out some caves.
They’re right that it is an exploration game you could spend the rest of your (real) life exploring, but it doesn’t sound like there is anything worth $60 to explore. Geez, at least in Farmville I can customize my farm. Is this game on Facebook? 'Cause it sounds like it should be, with some more “social” added in.
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/183 "2016-08-12T20:02:25Z")
So yes. About that whole “PC ports even if considered bad are still better than the console” thing.
> **[No Man's Sky isn't going over well on Steam](https://www.eurogamer.net/no-mans-sky-isnt-going-over-well-on-steam)**
>
> UPDATE 14/08/2016 11.20pm: No Man's Sky's Steam reviews have flipped the script with nearly two-thirds of users now pra…
> [@](#):
>
> And now that the PC version has been out for about two hours, much of that goodwill has soured as a majority of players are bumping up against a host of technical issues rendering the game unplayable in its current state.
> [@](#):
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> Of course, it’s hard to form a complete verdict on a game of No Man’s Sky’s magnitude in only an hour or two, but it only takes a few minutes to suss out whether the product is even playable on your PC. For many of these players, it wasn’t.
> [@](#):
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> “10 FPS on a GTX 980? No Man’s Lag. DO NOT BUY” added Steam user Robo Hobo.
>
> “Crashes on open every time. gg” thelordvalor stated.
>
> Many more reported that the game would simply crash upon starting up.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/184 "2016-08-12T20:41:51Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> So yes. About that whole “PC ports even if considered bad are still better than the console” thing.
>
> [No Man's Sky isn't going over well on Steam | Eurogamer.net](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-08-12-no-mans-sky-isnt-going-over-well-on-steam)
Well, it’s not ALWAYS the case, just 99% of the time. As mentioned, the only time this has been true that I can recall is Batman. Meanwhile, Just Cause 3 crashes on PS4, the latest tell tale game is a mess (not super great on PC either), and even this game hitches, crashes and sports a FOV that actually made my friend want to throw up watching a live stream of it! Rocket league dropped frames like crazy on release, and the list goes on. I know you really want the narrative to go the other way her,e but the facts just aren’t going your way. Sorry. These days the issues aren’t platform related, but developer related, and the chances of a console gamer having serious issues with a game are more or less about the same. It’s just that PC gamers are loud when the game isn’t up to PC standards. If a game drops to 25 FPS here and there - your average console gamer will go meh (though fo course some will, rightfully, complain too), but most PC gamers would find that unacceptable.
Meantime, I don’t know why Hello Games just didn’t hold back the PC version for another couple of weeks if it wasn’t ready.
Although it seems like it’s more than a few technical issues. Turning off frame caps (which default to 30, why??) and turning on AF + Vscyn outside the game, seems to cure most of the issues people are having.
But the UI functions exactly like the consoles! A UI that is essentially a MOUSE UI for a gamepad functions exactly the same when using a mouse complete with having to hold down the mouse button and waiting for a stupid circle to fill in order to select something. That clumsy shit is fine for the handicap of a gamepad, but not for a mouse and keybaord.
I guess you cna play with a gamepad, and I’m guessing most people are doing that, but still!
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/185 "2016-08-12T20:50:32Z")
Really don’t understand. This game is moving massive numbers on PC with over 200k concurrent users.
It just doesn’t make sense for them to have a shoddy release like this.
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/186 "2016-08-12T21:01:40Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#):
>
> Really don’t understand. This game is moving massive numbers on PC with over 200k concurrent users.
>
> It just doesn’t make sense for them to have a shoddy release like this.
Why wouldn’t they? It seems to be working.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/187 "2016-08-12T21:12:19Z")
220k numbers on day 1 is crazy (and I’m not sure if that’s peak). GTA 5 peaked around 360k concurrent users, and it was a great, polished, hyped game from a beloved developer in one of the most popular game series of all time.
Granted, it came out a long time ago, but I don’t think Skyrim ever hit more than 200k concurrent users.
Yet this little indie game from a 15 man dev studio with no track record with mediocre reviews that was overhyped to all fuck that had a $60 pricetag is one of the biggest launches ever.
This is going to be studied in marketing schools for years to come as a way to sell everyone on hype.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/188 "2016-08-12T21:36:19Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#):
>
> Why wouldn’t they? It seems to be working.
It shouldn’t!
Damn it.
On the flip side, THIS is why you need to put your game on PC. Never take a console exclusive deal indies. Never.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/189 "2016-08-12T21:50:34Z")
They did put their game on PC. The only “console exclusiveness” about it is that Sony paid them not to put it on Xbox. They’re just in over their heads because they’re just a 15 man dev team that hasn’t done anything significant before now.
I went from “sounds cool, I’m interested, but sure does sound overhyped to me” to actually being angry at its success. Why in the world does this game, which even by people who like the game basically admit it’s a niche indie game, have one of the biggest launches ever on steam? If this was a $20 indie game and got 30,000 people on launch day, I’d totally understand. It’d be like a Terrraria/Starbound/Kerbal type of hit. Which is about where it should be.
But instead it launches at $60 and outsells a polished, complete, broad-appeal game from a developer with a great track record and probably best game of the year Witcher 3. This is even after 3 days out on another platform where it’s proven itself to be, at best, not everything it was cracked up to be with a lot of warning signs. Where it gets metacritic ratings in the 60s. And yet people rushed to preorder/buy day one. Why in the fuck?
I can only understand this as a masterful case in marketing and hype because nothing else about this adds up.
There are a lot of people who are deeply emotionally invested in this game. If you go to review sites or forums discussing it, they come out and have a cult-like dedication to how it’s the most amazing thing ever and if you don’t agree then you just don’t get it, and the developer did everything they promised, and there are no flaws. The fanboyism is extreme.
Very, very strange, this whole ordeal. I think in a couple of weeks about 80% of the people who bought it are going to realize it really isn’t a gamechanger, it’s not gonna blow their mind, it’s not going to have great depth or great replayability, and they’re going to regret preordering the damn thing for $60. The 10-20% of hardened fanboys will fight to the death over it. What a weird situation this whole thing is, and it makes me sad how much people are taken in by hype.
Many tens of millions of dollars could’ve been spread over dozens or hundreds of other niche indy games this year instead of all being focused into this one.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/190 "2016-08-12T21:58:28Z")
Also, 44% positive reviews on steam over the first 10,000 reviews, which is extremely low - you have to be a complete pile of shit to get below that, and it’s that low despite all the cultists upvoting it regardless of the quality.
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### Author:  [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/191 "2016-08-12T22:01:47Z")
I wonder how many reimbursements will be demanded by unsatisfied players. It’s looking like NMS will be the new Spore.
In terms of high-level programming, how did they go about creating so much? Yes, procedural generation but more specifically than that? Were there other methods they used?
The consensus seems to be that the procedural generation wears thin after a while. Other games like Spelunky, Minecraft and Door Kickers (to a lesser extent) have managed it quite well. What differentiates them in terms of their methods and outcomes?
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/192 "2016-08-12T23:18:24Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#):
>
> In terms of high-level programming, how did they go about creating so much? Yes, procedural generation but more specifically than that? Were there other methods they used?
Almost certainly not; based on the sheer quantity of terrain, almost the only thing possible generation mechanism is procedural. The creatures, plants, and structures, and stuff sound like pre-made bits dropped into place as needed.
> [@](#):
>
> The consensus seems to be that the procedural generation wears thin after a while. Other games like Spelunky, Minecraft and Door Kickers (to a lesser extent) have managed it quite well. What differentiates them in terms of their methods and outcomes?
The randomness in those is made to facilitate specific gameplay, and so that the player can’t know the next level in advance, even if they played before. Adapting to that level’s particular configuration, whether through reflexes, planning, smart item use, or other skill is the game. But the randomness\*itself isn’t the point, nor is it just to have ten thousand dungeons for its own sake. It’s to challenge the player. Additionally, all the procedural-generated worlds I’ve seen are either heavily simplified like Minecraft or 2d. This gives them a lot of flexibility to insert fun rules and interesting challenges, rather than focus on making it look good. The one exception is _Fuel_, which has a massive sprawling world - but _Fuel_ has no interaction with that world except by driving around the surface.
\*I originally typed in randommess. Seems apt.
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/193 "2016-08-12T23:54:52Z")
Game Maker’s Toolkit has a good article on how Spelunky’s level generator works:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqk5Zf0tw3o)
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/194 "2016-08-13T00:01:34Z")
Article = video, of course
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/195 "2016-08-13T00:42:30Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> Sounds like Metroid Prime. Oh, you have to get your equipment back and do some exploring and fighting. Great, every world you visit is unique and cool.
>
> NMS has a quintillion planets that are all the same but with different color schemes and nothing in particular to do but blast out some caves.
One can follow a storyline if so desired.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/196 "2016-08-13T03:45:32Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#):
>
> One can follow a storyline if so desired.
This is true, but everyone who has mentioned it basically said it’s barely worth noticing.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/197 "2016-08-13T04:03:58Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> I went from “sounds cool, I’m interested, but sure does sound overhyped to me” to actually being angry at its success. Why in the world does this game, which even by people who like the game basically admit it’s a niche indie game, have one of the biggest launches ever on steam? If this was a $20 indie game and got 30,000 people on launch day, I’d totally understand. It’d be like a Terrraria/Starbound/Kerbal type of hit. Which is about where it should be.
Not sure why you’d be angry, I mean how it does it affect you?
As for me, I’ve never pre-ordered a game but I pre-ordered this because I thought the concept sounded cool and I was in a bit of a gaming slump at the time. Maybe there were just lots and lots of people who thought the concept sounded cool. The difference between that and something like The Witcher is that The Witcher is a known quantity. The Witcher 3 was a sequel to a game that some people like and some don’t. That automatically excludes a large number of gamers from ordering it because they already know they aren’t interested. NMS had a cool sounding concept to pique gamer’s interest and little enough actual detail that gamers would fill in the blanks with wishful thinking.
If this ends up being a disaster for Hello Games then I think they can blame Sony for jumping on it and themselves for not seeing the adverse affect the hype would ultimately have.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/198 "2016-08-13T04:46:41Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> NMS has a quintillion planets that are all the same but with different color schemes
Anyone wondering about buying the game, whatever other info you look at please disregard **Levrakon** ’s comment above, as it is not even close to being true.
The variety in this game is amazing. Certainly there are some things you run into more than once from planet to planet. But much more is different from world to world than is the same. The dimensions of variation involve things like topography, amounts of vegetation and fauna, density of “ground vegetation” (grasses etc) – which, btw, is not always uniform across the entire surface of the planet – amount and arrangement of bodies of water/land, color (yes of course), shapes of mineral outcroppings, animal and plant forms, weather characteristics (a very very simple weather model but it _does_ vary from world to world), ground textures (and planets have more than one, forming “regions” of a sort, though they’re too small to really come across as “biomes”), cave depth, complexity and frequency, concentration of various resources.
That’s what I can think of, I am sure there are other dimensions of variation as well.
Hell, it’s hard to explain this but _just_ the topographical variation–the sheer variety in _shapes of horizons_ I’ve encountered in my own gameplay and watching others’ streams, kind of evokes a reaction from me. And that’s just one variation dimension.
**Levdrakon** and others who say what he said above are really selling the game short.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/199 "2016-08-13T04:51:43Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#):
>
> IIt’s looking like NMS will be the new Spore.
I knew Spore. Spore was a game of mine. This, sir, is no Spore. 😉
(See my prior post for elaboration.)
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-mans-sky-first-star-to-the-right-and-straight-on-till-morning/759701/200 "2016-08-13T04:57:33Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> Very, very strange, this whole ordeal. I think in a couple of weeks about 80% of the people who bought it are going to realize it really isn’t a gamechanger, it’s not gonna blow their mind, it’s not going to have great depth or great replayability, and they’re going to regret preordering the damn thing for $60. The 10-20% of hardened fanboys will fight to the death over it. What a weird situation this whole thing is, and it makes me sad how much people are taken in by hype.
Those who enjoy the game for what it is have understood from the beginning that the game will not have depth in its gameplay mechanics. That’s not where this game is at. It is a casual, “chill” game. A way to pass some time enjoyably.
I really don’t understand why anyone ever expected the game to be other than that. I followed all the ads, heard all the same interviews as everyone else, and somehow, I came away with an _accurate_ expectation of what this game would be like, while somehow, many others came away with really bizarre, exaggerated expectations for it.
(And that’s not to mention the weird over-reactions people are having to things like the lack of multiplayer. Hello Games has been a bit back and forth on that, absolutely, but it should have been a huge clue to anyone who wasn’t sure that not one single bit about multiplayer was included in even a single trailer for the game–and in the last few months Hello Games has consistently stated that there will be no direct interaction between players in the game. Okay, so maybe some people missed all that but the huge, incredibly angry reactions some people have had really puzzle me. How is it _even_ a big deal? I don’t get this.)
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