What do you mean by no gameplay?

@beachthunder said:

That's what I'm asking, what is the game? Like in Starbound you mine minerals to make equipment, find loot on planets, explore underground, build bases etc.

That's why I'm saying this game seems more like 'tech'. If Minecraft used 'No Man's Sky' tech, then it would be 3D Starbound.

I have no idea but what I've heard about the game play isn't inspiring to me. A mine craft-esque game just isn't my thing.

I chose SpeedTree just because I loved the video where they first went and interviewed the guy demoing it at GDC 2010.

But also because SpeedTree for Planets (SpeedPlanets) is super dumb and I love it.

It will be a game (eventually), not a toolset for other games. Looking at the graphics of this game I think the terrain is definitely not made of polygons, but some voxel like technique (because you can shoot holes in stuff as well), so that would not apply to most games anyway.

You mean Span-It Planet?

You know what?

Yes.

I'm inclined to think that right now it's kinda just SpeedTree for planets, and they're working out what the gameplay is going to be other than walking around and discovering procedurally generated species and finding procedurally generated abandoned/crashed ships or whatever.

SpeedPlanet! YES.

They've been saying that it's a dogfighting game, so I think it's neither. I don't think anybody knows yet (I kinda doubt that even the developers do).

The devs say they want the game to feel like early Minecraft, where no one had any idea what recipes were, or what they were doing, which is why they're being deliberately hush on the actual gameplay loops. Could be anything, but it looks like it's down to discovering resources on planets, trading and also involves combat.

The devs also mentioned in an interview with Gamespot that the game will not be about building so that throws most Starbound comparisons out the window for me.

This, especially the bit in parenthesis. I think to this point they have only worried about making it look cool and now that it looks cool and has hype they are trying to make some kind of actual game out of it. Which is sort of the wrong way to do things and doesn't make me hopeful for the final product.

@karkarov said:

Yeah, when they actually added goals and shit to Minecraft like way after the fact, it really didn't blow anybody's socks off. The coolest part of Minecraft was what it was at the very beginning: this block game where you can build whatever and go wherever you want.

I suspect No Man's Sky will be the same. It will deliver on this initial promise of generating a huge galaxy with a bunch of really pretty worlds to keep exploring and finding, but it won't surprise me if the actual gameplay they attach to that will be kinda middling.