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Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

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Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#21

Post by Guvante »

fisher-lebo wrote: post #2

I get the gist of how Minecraft is constructed: just a bunch of blocks with algorithms which hide certain blocks when they aren't in the player's view. Are there any articles about how an engine like this is built? It is an extreme level of procedural generation (apparently), but the graphics aren't blocky and as abstract, but rather pretty impressive. In a similar vein is Eskil Steenberg's Love [1], but this is on a…

> Are there any articles about how an engine like this is built?

It isn't that different, the only real change is how you handle edge conditions, as you can have finer detail so need to filter less.

Minecraft doesn't use blocks to simplify world generation, it uses blocks to simplify world modification by the user. The blocks restrict you making it easier (oddly enough) to create things.

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#22

Post by mbenjaminsmith »

thisjepisje wrote: post #18

Now what would be really interesting is to have some sort of rudimentary evolution in a game like this. Star systems, planet geology, flora, fauna, everything.

No, what would be interesting is everything that you said with the addition of relativistic-speed travel. Take round trips near (or over, depending on your reference) the speed of light and watch how things evolve.

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#23

Post by flatline »

DanAndersen wrote: post #11

The issue with a lot of procedurally-generated content is that overall things become same-y. Lots of breadth, little depth. When you have a set number of variable sliders, you don't have to see all the possible worlds to get a sense of how many sliders there are and what their ranges are. The problem only gets worse when moving away from planet/landscape generation (dumb matter) and getting into simulations of histor…

I'd be interested as well in any recent academic research in this. The best I've seen in the wild is Dwarf Fortress, which focuses on building interesting terrain, a rich global history, and interesting local power structures and NPC behavior. I think the ultimate vision for the game is pretty ambitious, and it is slowly getting there, step by step, over the course of years.

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#24

Post by kelvin0 »

mratzloff wrote: post #8

Holy shit, I guess I'm getting a PS4. I suspect--or hope, at least--that they've built meshes that can be combined in a myriad of ways, so by combining the hundreds or thousands of combinations you can get millions of animal or plant types.

These are animated characters. So not only do you need to have the 'flesh' made procedurally (meshes/polygons), but also the 'bones' onto which the meshes are attached for animation. Procedurally creating static meshes is one thing, doing the same for bones and animating it with a mesh so that it looks credible is a whole other story ...

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#25

Post by anigbrowl »

I was impressed by the demo until I saw the very flat explosions that just faded out quickly, which took me out of the illusion immediately. Perhaps that's just a pre-production thing. Impressive product even if the article is sort of gushy and breathless...when I was playing Elite back in the 1980s the planets were just a circle with a smaller circle rotating on it for perspective XD

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#26

Post by devindotcom »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #4

Looks like it could be a good game either way, but I'm questioning their use of words when they say "every atom" is procedurally-generated, as in their first reveal trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fCn8oB-sg From what they have demoed, they have not proven that anything actually is being generated. My best guess is that they randomly vary colors and textures (and generate the atmospheres, as they say), and r…

They haven't gotten into the specifics, but they are pretty adamant that this isn't just reskinning and randomly putting stuff on prefab environments. Their interviews with Eurogamer and the like from E3 are illuminating in this regard. I understand the skepticism, but I personally would rather be excited that this might in fact be something very new. The proof (or lack thereof) will be the game itself, so we'll just have to wait.

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#27

Post by Ressud »

fisher-lebo wrote: post #2

I get the gist of how Minecraft is constructed: just a bunch of blocks with algorithms which hide certain blocks when they aren't in the player's view. Are there any articles about how an engine like this is built? It is an extreme level of procedural generation (apparently), but the graphics aren't blocky and as abstract, but rather pretty impressive. In a similar vein is Eskil Steenberg's Love [1], but this is on a…

Here's an old video from on of the people working on the game with a demo of terrain generation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4X_EZZn7dc&list=UUqN5uW6xLO...

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#28

Post by Ressud »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #4

Looks like it could be a good game either way, but I'm questioning their use of words when they say "every atom" is procedurally-generated, as in their first reveal trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fCn8oB-sg From what they have demoed, they have not proven that anything actually is being generated. My best guess is that they randomly vary colors and textures (and generate the atmospheres, as they say), and r…

They've already talked (and showed) quite a bit about how stuff like animals, trees, ships etc are done. Essentially what they're doing is building a base model (a prototype, I guess) for everything that is then changed with something like the sliders in any character creator, but more extreme. So from the "cat" base model you'd get house cats, lions, leopards, tigers etc from that, in addition to really wild things.

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#29

Post by lotsofmangos »

To be honest, I thought our sun would be around a lot longer.

“If you were to visit one virtual planet every second,” he says, “then our own sun will have died before you’d have seen them all.”

...

"The tens of millions of planets that comprise the universe are all unique."

Re: Exploring No Man’s Sky, A Computer Game Forged by Algorithms

#30

Post by gavanwoolery »

devindotcom wrote: post #26
gavanwoolery wrote: post #4

Looks like it could be a good game either way, but I'm questioning their use of words when they say "every atom" is procedurally-generated, as in their first reveal trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fCn8oB-sg From what they have demoed, they have not proven that anything actually is being generated. My best guess is that they randomly vary colors and textures (and generate the atmospheres, as they say), and r…

They haven't gotten into the specifics, but they are pretty adamant that this isn't just reskinning and randomly putting stuff on prefab environments. Their interviews with Eurogamer and the like from E3 are illuminating in this regard. I understand the skepticism, but I personally would rather be excited that this might in fact be something very new. The proof (or lack thereof) will be the game itself, so we'll just…

I'd be happy either way. :) But really, for the sake of their own credibility, they should demo these things to the public (regardless of how broken anything is, it would go a long way to reinforce what they are saying). I definitely would not say they are "lying" about anything, just that until they show their tools, we have no idea how in-depth the generation is.
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