'No Man's Sky' release date details; Hello Games lists key features

US Playstation blog

One of the most-anticipated games for this year is from indie outfit Hello Games, with their much-hyped, space exploration title "No Man's Sky." With the many mysteries surrounding the upcoming title, such as the developer saying the game is so vast because it comes with "procedurally-generated worlds," many gamers are offering speculations on how the game will be played. 

Now, Hello Games has decided to break their silence and blow open the game's key points. 

Not an MMO 

Contrary to what has been speculated, "No Man's Sky" will not play like a typical massive multiplayer online title. There will be no central storyline to follow, and no cutscenes at all. Instead, players will be given a single objective – to reach the center of the universe, and no one knows what awaits players who reach the center first. 

Massive number of planets 

Gamers often hear that the title uses "procedural generation" to make planets and worlds. What this means is that "No Man's Sky" will generate enough planets that no two planets will be exactly alike, and that the number of planets to be discovered will allow each player to own a world or two. "Procedurally-generated worlds" also means that in the game's universe, players are given 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets to explore. 

Math and Physics play their parts 

Algorithms determine the position of each planet and correlates it to the galaxies. In addition, physics will also play a part in the system generating planets to explore – the nearer the planet is to a sun star, the more devoid it will be of plant and animal life. However, although planets may be barren, there will still be resources to explore and mine. 

Players will be true discoverers 

The planets in "No Man's Sky" will be full of new things to discover – players can name the planet themselves, as well as the flora and fauna that will be discovered on it.