Game Informer Story

Basically it's going to run something like Journey or Destiny where everyone has a local lobby and people who are in the same spot automatically join each other's lobby and see each other. He says there is a player limit in a lobby, but doesn't say how many it is. Only that its more than people playing normally will need. He also goes into a couple ways that he would love to see the system work when it comes out, among other things.

Personally I think this is great. It's exactly how I figured and hoped they would handle multiplayer months ago, so it's nice to finally see some confirmation on it. Honestly just knowing that this is in there is enough to get me all the way in. Even the chance that you could just bump into some dude on a planet and then never see each other again sounds pretty awesome.

At some point, they're going to have to come out and be more direct about what this game is or isn't. I understand if they're not entirely sure yet. That's fine. Just say it and stop trying to talk it up like the whole idea of the game is too complex for us to fathom.

Dude, for real. I want to know what it is players will actually be doing in this game.

Sounds cool. Coming across messages in the wild or better yet, seeing a weird humanoid figure that looks unlike any creature you've come across, would be awesome.

If you see another ship fly past and it's actually another player, I wonder what would happen if you shot at it. I guess I'm wondering how tangible the interaction will be.

...but then that goes for most everything else about this game.

@mb: @stokes : I know they have made reference to upgrade paths and needing resources to complete them. That really is about it though. I also seem to remember a very early interview where sean said something about it being a race to the center of the galaxy. That might be out at this point though. Still yea it would be nice to get a more concrete idea than what we have.

@mb said:

I bet they haven't figured that part out yet.

No Mans Sky is going to be the next iteration of Pokemon Snap. That is a game that I loved.

So far, from what I've seen from every single trailer or demo ever given, is that this game is a "camera panning slow walk surrounded by weird creatures then jumping in a spaceship and flying away" simulator.

For real though, there is a bullet counter on the top right, shit is going down at some point.

I don't understand the confusion about what the game is about... seems pretty clear cut to me.

You'll be flying around, shooting stuff, exploring, trading, gathering resources and then upgrading you stuff so you can do those same things closer and closer to the inner part of the universe or whatever until you get to the center, and sometimes you'll find other dudes doing the same stuff ala journey, what's not to understand?

I have been under the impression that it's not much more than a UI element at this point, and none of the combat has even be designed or programmed in yet.

Standing by for delays. A lot of delays.

Specifics. Shooting what stuff? For what reason? With what kind of weapons? How are upgrades done? What is the economy like, and what can be traded? What is the point to all of this? Is there a campaign or any kind of story arc, or is it a "make your own story" type of game?

If you really think about what has been revealed about No Man's Sky, it's next to nothing.

But will I be able to dance and wave to those other players?

I feel the first trailer was great. Nice and mysterious. It didn't have to tell me what the game was all about. But like... I'm pretty sure we've had two more trailers since then, and they've all felt the same. What do you do? Do you dogfight? Do you collect stuff outside your ship? Do you have a laser pistol? Don't really get it.

@mb: well, I honestly believe that the specifics about combat, weapons, economy and stuff are being kept a secret because it's very obvious to me that all of those will be absurdly basic, so if they disclose it now there won't be much to be discovered when it comes out.

As for a story arc or a campaign, everything that has been said up until now leads me to believe that yes, this is a "make your own story" type of game, seems there will be some hidden lore there to be discovered in bits and pieces here and there but I would absolutely not expect a deep story heavy game at all.

And that's the thing, people are expecting this to be this very deep universe simulation game(hence why the expectation for specifics) when in fact it looks like it's a very arcadey casual like experience with some basic combat and stuff thrown in but the main aspect of it veing the crazy procedural generation and the exploration of the stuff generated, there are no set objetives, no missions, no characters, getting to the center of the universe being the only real end game situation.

I'm still excited about it though.

So this is All Flash: No Substance, the game right? Cause that's the vibe they seem to be hammering home here

This was good for giving some concrete details at least. I still have loads of questions about basic gameplay and how interesting all these procedural things will actually be, so hopefully this gameinformer thing will answer those questions before it's over. But at least the multiplayer is a little less mysterious.

That's what I have gotten so far. Really it seems like this game is a good two years away at this point, at least going by what has been shown so far.

You trade and stuff, right? I thought they've said that much. I'm picturing procedurally generated space Euro Truck Sim. They're definitely still lacking details, but I think trading is the main "thing". I think the game looks very interesting, but I'm not quite understanding how everyone is going crazy over it before they know anything. I'm totally cool with it if the game is about exploration without much to do, but I would like to know if that's what it is.

It's like you guys don't even pay attention to all the info they've talked about multiple times.

The game looks pretty enough that it'll be worth it for me, even if I just cruise around for five hours. I wonder if those visuals will still seem as pretty 3 years from now when the game comes out.

From a different thread, but i'll post it here so everyone can see it. A user compiled everything that game has shown/is so far. It got me much more excited for NMS!

Here's a bit of info I sorted up in hopes of making some things a bit clearer. It's all gathered from actual info from interviews, trailers etc.

What is No Man's Sky?

- In a nutshell, the goal is to earn money, get the best gear and survive the trip to the center of the galaxy. Yes, you can explore planets or stay in one forever, but if you're asking for a goal, a purpose, that's it.

Why would I want to get to the center of the galaxy?

- It's the main goal of the game, the only objective. Apparently, there will be "a compelling reason to head towards the center of the galaxy, as well as an ending that will provide you with a sense of closure. But there will be a reason to continue playing after that ending". Remember that Minecraft, Don't Starve, DayZ or even Dark Souls don't have a clear goal, they throw you into the world without telling you what to do next. 90% of Dark Souls is melee combat and walking, sounds pretty boring if you think about it that way, doesn't it.

What are the main incentives? Why would I want to play this game?

- As was mentioned, leveling yourself by ways of earning money and gear while trying to survive in a harsh environment is the main incentive, like in a vast number of games, or at least it's the main gameplay mechanic pushing you forward. The other incentive is of course pure exploration, which is enough for a lot of people but technically it might not be. You engage in a number of activities, both on the surface and in space, earn money, improve and buy gear and reach the center of the galaxy. Of course, getting money will be challenging, it will often put you in dangerous situations and you will probably die a lot.

So what do I do, what activities are there?

All of these activities earn you money, some more than others:

Non-violent:

- Exploration (discovering and naming of creatures, plants, locations, crashed ships, structures, artifacts, portals to dangerous planets)

- Resource Gathering (gather and sell minerals from a fictitious periodic table of elements using a multi-tool for scanning, a mining laser for gathering)

- Trading (buy resources cheap from one space station, sell them to another for profit)

Violent:

- Destroy Guardian Robots (gathering and killing too much alerts robots that hunt you down, you have weapons and grenades at your disposal)

- Escort and Defend (escort ships on their journey, defend them from enemy attacks)

- Destroy Ships (destroy trader ships, lone or groups of traveler NPCs, choose sides in huge fleet battles or evade them altogether, kill the local police)

There is also one "core thing" you can do for every solar system, and this "thing" is of great significance, fundamentally changes that solar system and players can choose whether or not they want to do that.

*Note: They've mentioned that killing creatures doesn't actually earn you money (discovering and scanning them does), but you can do it nevertheless.

How does exploration actually work?

- You have a galactic map with all of the stars revealed. Clicking on a star shows its basic solar system data, with more info if someone's already been there and shared it. You hyperjump to the selected solar system and then target one of the planets. As you enter the orbit, your ship's computer scans the surface and shows you essentially question marks, points of interest detected on the surface. These points of interest can be any of the aforementioned activities that earn you money while on the surface as well as trading posts, portals etc. Basically, you get rewarded for revealing what the question marks are and then do the stuff related to said activity, whether it is scanning of new species, mining resources, a dangerous trap, jump to new worlds, kill some robots etc. You can freely explore the entire planet if you want, and you'll probably find some nice things out there as well, but a few of the key locations will be marked with these "question marks".

Just imagine Far Cry 4, but instead of the towers revealing icons and those icons depicting exactly what the missions are, you reveal icons just by arriving at the planet and discover what the icons are by actually going there.

What do I do with all this cash I earned?

- Well, the main goal is to survive the trip to the center of the galaxy, so you want to make sure you can actually pull this off. There are three main things you can upgrade:

- Suit - (shields, carrying capacity, jetpack, degree of survival in toxic, corrosive, radioactive, acid and other environments)

- Weapons - (improve scanning range and type, resource gathering, laser beam, plasma grenade, energy shot, for space there are different weapons with different specialties like lasers for shields, plasma for hull damage, torpedoes for heavy damage but with slow projectiles)

- Ship - (buy new ones actually, but they can have different stats defined into three classes: Fighter, Trader and Explorer, different engines, stealth tech, different types of weapons for different occasions)

Doesn't sound all that difficult. What are the obstacles, where's the difficulty?

- If your ship is destroyed, you respawn after death without your ship and cargo but you still have your hard earned money and suit upgrades. If you get killed while on foot, naturally you loose what resources you had on you and respawn near your ship, still having your money and suit upgrades.

- Planets have different atmospheres, radiation, toxic and corrosive environments, liquid hazards like acids and alcohols so you need to upgrade both your suit and ship to survive in these harsh environments.

- Some planets have robot guardians that attack you if you exploit (as you should) the planet's natural resources, kill off wildlife etc. In other words, the robots punish you for doing everything you can to survive and improve your gear.

- Participating in conflict between factions will win favors with one over the other, meaning one faction will give you wingmen for support or trader discounts while the other will actively attack you if you're in bad relations with them.

- Attacking outposts and space stations enrages the local police. You don't get rewarded for attacking space stations but you do for killing cops (or any ships for that matter).

- Fuel is used for interstellar (hyperspace) travel and is very expensive. An easier way of getting fuel is by mining for resources, or you could do any of the other activities to earn cash and spend it on fuel. Fuel also takes up cargo space so you need to balance that if you want to do trade runs.

- Hazardous planets (or maybe all of them?) deplete your suit's oxygen levels so you need to be mindful of this when embarking on longer journeys through the inhospitable terrain.

- Portals to other planets can be extremely dangerous (you can only use them on foot) but can also give larger rewards, since you're basically warping to a high level area while you're still at a very lower level. Also, each portal requires a different weapon or combination of weapons to activate.

So will all of this actually be fun or worth it?

- Well that depends, it might get boring quickly or the variety of combinations might keep things fresh at least for a few dozen hours. People play Destiny, Far Cry 4, Dark Souls or Don't Starve, games which have extremely repetitive and annoying elements for a lot of people but are still loved by a great many people. My point is, No Man's Sky clearly has gameplay, and while exploration is directly encouraged and essential, it's not the only thing you can do in the game. It's not a walking simulator by any stretch. You earn money, have a goal you can pursue, upgrade your gear, engage in combat, have a lot of dangerous situations etc. That being said, it might turn out to be a boring game, it depends on balance, how interesting the activities are and a number of factors, one of which is the player himself. It's not a game for everyone, but those are rare anyway.

I hope this clears some things to some people, especially with posts saying there is no gameplay and such. Also, I recommend reading the NMS wiki archive on reddit that has all of this info and more.

Credit ichtyander @ Gaf

90% of Dark Souls is melee combat and walking, sounds pretty boring if you think about it that way, doesn't it.

No! That sounds great!

I guess I'll be playing this as a robot-killing galactic tourist.

There's a pretty large difference between talking about it and showing it.

So far I've only seen a dude flying in a space ship into different planets, getting out, and then walking around.

I'm just glad there's some sort of multiplayer. This game seems perfect for me and my wife and our spacey needs!

@turboman: to be fair they have shown combat, seems people just decided to selectively ignore that..

I for one appreciate this idea of not showing too much and leaving the stuff to be discovered by the players.

Nowadays they tend to divulge so much about a game before it comes out that you end up knowing almost everything there is to know before you even play the fucking thing...

Well at least that's what Sean has been saying for a while, that they prefer not to say much and let us experience it first hand, if they are being honest or just jacking us off remains to be seen.

@development: dude this game is coming out second half 2015 at the latest, I'm willing to bet money on that.