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DailyPoutine1
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20 Mar 2016, 3:58 pm

I'm gonna have stuf to do for months :)



Misery
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20 Mar 2016, 5:06 pm

Yes, but I'd beware of the hype if I were you. The one thing NOT to do is pre-order it. Most pre-orders lately have gone bad really fast due to games not even remotely living up to what everyone has hoped.

I'm definitely interested in the game myself, but after so very many disappointments lately, I'm not getting my hopes up too high and will probably wait for a few videos of people playing it to appear before buying it.

...unless my patience snaps again.



Earthbound
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17 Apr 2016, 7:55 pm

It looks interesting but I'm wondering how much content there really is. They claim there is like 18 quintillion planets- but after how many, will it get boring? Exploring and seeing many new things will be fine for a while I bet, then it will get tiresome. The gameplay videos so far have shown a bit, but still so much they havent shown. Many times when stuff isnt shown- its garbage or just very unpolished.

I will likely wait for reviews, but even then I will still wonder if its good. Generally reviews are done by people after only a few hours of gameplay.



Misery
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17 Apr 2016, 8:29 pm

Earthbound wrote:
It looks interesting but I'm wondering how much content there really is. They claim there is like 18 quintillion planets- but after how many, will it get boring? Exploring and seeing many new things will be fine for a while I bet, then it will get tiresome. The gameplay videos so far have shown a bit, but still so much they havent shown. Many times when stuff isnt shown- its garbage or just very unpolished.

I will likely wait for reviews, but even then I will still wonder if its good. Generally reviews are done by people after only a few hours of gameplay.


It depends on just how the content works.

If the actual content itself is procedural (as in, new creatures, for instance, created each time you play the game, as opposed to just finding the same ones in each game) as opposed to JUST the maps being procedural, then you're not going to really run out of content.

Otherwise, it'll be just like Minecraft. In games like this, there's rarely a "win" condition. So it's up to the player as to how much there is to do with the content that is there.

if the devs are smart, they'll have thought of these things already.


Also the reason that stuff isnt shown yet is because it can be a very, very bad idea to show content that isnt finalized. This I have learned firsthand. If they stick something into the game, show it, and then later decide "You know what, this old thing doesnt fit now after the gameplay has evolved during development, it's time to cut this particular creature/item/object/mechanic", it'll drive people crazy. They'll have seen something that they then wont get; even if the reason for it is a REALLY good one (and in many cases, it is). That sort of thing needs to stay behind the curtains. And no, there's really no way to avoid having to do that. It's part of development as a rule. At least, it is if you're trying to make a real attempt at keeping the game balanced.



Earthbound
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18 Apr 2016, 8:48 am

The game is coming out in June. They could show more footage- big changes honestly shouldn't be happening at this time.

I've found that many times when game makers (especially of big games) don't show much footage, they are hiding stuff. Keeping secrets is fine and all, but when it's clearly to mask issues with the game.. that's a problem.

I wish they would say the total number of creatures, biomes, etc. If there is literally only a few biomes/areas on planets- it will get boring IMO.

One of my bigger worries about the game- multiplayer. It honestly doesn't feature that much in the game, and I'm fine with that. However the game makers are either keeping it under wraps or it simply is how it is (you can encounter other people but its rare). I'm really hoping the game makers don't give into the whiners and expand on multiplayer. This game seems like it would work just fine with single player only. Too many games get multiplayer tacked on and it really wrecks things at times. I suppose if they did a DLC/expansion and made multiplayer work somehow, I wouldn't have an issue.



Misery
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18 Apr 2016, 2:29 pm

Earthbound wrote:
The game is coming out in June. They could show more footage- big changes honestly shouldn't be happening at this time.


Wrong.

I used to think that was the case, but no... it isnt.

Big changes can happen right up until release.

This is not EA or one of the "huge" devs (with them, you'd get a major release delay if changes/fixes become apparently needed). And with the "big guys", things are WAY more regimented; when you get a game where you wonder "what went wrong? This thing is here... why is this here, who thought this was a good idea?" from the big guys, THAT is why. They dont make changes quickly, and they often dont make them at all. So you often get releases that contain bloody stupid things that are obviously broken/idiotic, simply because they refuse to make changes.

Indie devs dont have that restriction and are able to do things as they want. If they see a change that they want to make? Nothing stopping them but their own programming structure and game engine/setup. If they've done a good job? It'll be nice and easy for them to make any changes as they see fit, because they'll have set things up that way.

And things get particularly hectic in the period just before release, and this is a particular time when changes are very possible. When I went through this the period lasted about 10 days; the developer I've been working with is known for doing things VERY quickly and so that period was.... short. And indeed, even in that time, changes were made (by me, and by various others) for the betterment of the game. I'd been told that might happen, and that that was the reason why we couldnt show off screenshots or videos much before release; the ability to do that is very limited for a reason, and I now know why. When the game comes out things need to be as perfect as they can, so the team needs to be ready to do what it takes if they're testing and suddenly they go "Okay.... THAT bit there is a problem, we need to deal with that right now". That situation could mean removal, or replacement. Either of which goes wrong if too many videos & screenshots have been shown that may have contained the thing in question.


They'll show more of the game when they're bloody well ready to, in other words. They need to be sure to do things that ARENT damaging them or their game's chances. We're not likely to see all that much of it until release is nearly here. Everyone is just going to have to wait.



Earthbound
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18 Apr 2016, 2:41 pm

The game isn't early access, but many of these big games have tons of bug fixes and huge patches right away. The longer it takes for them to finish the game, the less the bug testers can do to see whats wrong.

I have a feeling No Man's Sky will be another "release now, patch later" type of game. That's the standard for games this generation (as well as last). It's a big game- so obviously it wont be perfect day one. I expect a decent product though and hopefully they don't drop the ball here.



Misery
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18 Apr 2016, 4:31 pm

Earthbound wrote:
The game isn't early access, but many of these big games have tons of bug fixes and huge patches right away. The longer it takes for them to finish the game, the less the bug testers can do to see whats wrong.

I have a feeling No Man's Sky will be another "release now, patch later" type of game. That's the standard for games this generation (as well as last). It's a big game- so obviously it wont be perfect day one. I expect a decent product though and hopefully they don't drop the ball here.


That's not how bugtesting works either, frankly. The bit about "longer it takes" is actually backwards. The longer it takes, and the more time they have available, the more bugs can be found. But of course.... it's not as easy as that.

I know everyone seems to have this bizarre idea that bugtesting is easy, simple, and if bugs are missed, well, the devs and testers are stupid and lazy.

I've been doing bugtesting for a *really* long time. I started doing it waaaaaaayyyyyy before the term "early access" existed. It was called "beta" back then.

These days, I've gotten way more involved in the testing process than I used to be. And it's not an easy thing to do, not one bit. REAL bug testing doesnt JUST place the results of the testing on the shoulders of the devs; a good tester wont just report the bug, but will sit there with the game and try to figure out WHY it happened, and of course, how to replicate it. That way, they can give more info to the developers, not just about how to make the bug show up, but perhaps also give suggestions on how it might be fixed. This makes it that much easier for the devs to deal with it. This isnt just for bugs, but also happens with balance issues and problems.

But now, I'm not just a tester anymore. I fix the damn bugs and have been involved now, more than once, in the actual creation process. Currently in the game I'm working on (specifically, making an expansion for the game, it already released), it's WAY different than when I was a tester. I have the authority to make decisions, and decide on what goes into the game, what doesnt, and what needs to be changed, removed, or replaced. Nobody questions me, either, as I"m the one that knows the most about the genre, but that doesnt make it easier. These decisions are NOT easy to make. Hell, when the project initially started, I was kinda surprised at this. The devs never came at me with "okay, THIS is what we want you to do now, so go do this, and then do this over here". Being part of the team on the project, instead, it was me going "Okay, what do you want me to do next?", and them responding with "....what do you think you should do next? Whatever that is, go ahead and do it". Being in that position is what's allowed me to see and learn all this stuff I keep talking about.

Bug fixing, for instance. Easy? Good grief, no. Some bugs are very hard to fix, but it's not just that. Even with a finished game, the bug reports just... keep... coming. It's *impossible* to find all bugs, or even most of them, before release. It cannot be done. Anyone that says otherwise has no freaking clue what they're talking about. And these reports, even for a small game, dont come slowly. They come in a wild barrage. But those making the game are supposed to keep track of them ANYWAY. You end up having to make decisions of priority; which bugs need to be fixed FIRST, and which ones can wait until later? You cant fix them all at once, it doesnt work that way.

Even with the most dedicated team you can have, no matter what you do, you *will* have bugs and balance issues on release. You absolutely will. There's no avoiding this and pretty much all games now get patches and hotfixes after release. Of course, you cant JUST focus on that these days, no. Consumers now EXPECT post-release freebies. We've had to fix these damn glitches... while at the same time providing some new post-release content. None of those things are stuff where we went and just pulled it from original development and "held it back" on purpose. They're all things genuinely designed and made entirely after release. I've now done plenty of such content myself, with more to come.


And really, that's just the beginning. I'm not even going to fully go into the bit about waking up, and checking my email to find *80* of the damn things. 80! This isnt a AAA game, it's an indie game! Yeah. Not even going to go into that. It just gets more complicated from there.


What's going on with No Man's Sky, so far, is totally normal. They've not shown any hints of problems, or honestly, I'd have already started complaining, since this is a game I'm looking forward to, and complaining is what I'm good at.



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26 Apr 2016, 3:17 pm

As No Man's Sky approaches, they really need to show more footage in mid to late May at the latest. No excuses- they shouldn't be keeping stuff secret. Many many times when games are kept secret, they bomb badly. I'm pretty sure the pre-orders for this are extremely high, so game makers arent worried about it bombing. However the bad reviews could come rushing in, if the gameplay is shallow.

I'm still worried there wont be enough differences from planets. I've seen no info on the number of biomes/types of planets. They could at least give a close enough guess at this point! I honestly would be happy with 50 types or so. Also, the number of creatures or a rough guess would be nice.

Honestly if they don't show enough new stuff by June, I probably will wait. I hate to wait for this- because of the whole naming thing in the game. If I don't buy the game, I'll join and see so many horrible names for planets and what not. It's my duty to name planets after Nintendo games, along with many Earthbound/Mother series references! :lol:

Also if I read right- Star Ocean 5 comes out a week after this does. That game is shaping up to be decent, and I'm hoping its better than 4 (which I got bored of a bit quick).



Misery
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26 Apr 2016, 4:44 pm

Honestly I am rather expecting them to show some footage when it gets REALLY close. Even the most secretive of developers usually do this. Right now Paradox is doing this with Stellaris (finally) via their frequent streams. Stellaris is still a couple of weeks off and they've been showing it for about 2 weeks now (It's had a nice, long development cycle).

The No Man's Sky devs are not on a hyper-tight deadline like I was with mine... we SERIOUSLY did not have time to do that and some changes were literally made (by me, mostly) 10 minutes before release, because argh... but it worked out wonderfully in the end.

What's with this naming thing though? I havent heard of that bit. That sounds amusing, I love giving stuff hilarious names. Until I cant think of any, which usually happens after I've named about three things. After that, things get super random names. I will end up with something or other named "Box of Crackers" or something.



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26 Apr 2016, 5:10 pm

Apparently anyone that discovers something for the first time- can name it. Then when someone sees it, they will see the named thing (along with the game maker's original name I think). I'm not sure what else there is to it. People can play offline if they want, so the naming stuff wouldnt matter? or you simply can name everything? I'm not sure if this only applies to creatures, or if planets are included.

So far they havent mentioned very many details about it (from what I've read and seen).

I'm hoping they have some sort of filter in place. I don't want to go around seeing stupid memes, racism, swear words (and so on) for names.



Misery
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26 Apr 2016, 6:59 pm

Yeah, I'd bet anything they have a filter of some sort. Likely only for swear words though. Meme names are probably inevitable. Which doesnt bug me THAT much, but... feh. I'd like people to at least be a BIT creative, maybe.

Though moreso, bound to run into alot of misspelled things. This kinda makes me think of Spore, when I played that online, and ran into all sorts of creatures with seriously idiotic names, or names that were just very badly misspelled.

Agh. Just talking about this game bugs me. Why? Because it ISNT OUT YET. I'm not very patient with stuff like this. I will refuse to pre-order, because screw pre-ordering ANYTHING, but I still cant wait for it to come out. And it's rare that I say that.



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07 May 2016, 11:55 am

A little over a month until the game releases!

I'm still hoping new footage and details will be revealed before launch.



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07 May 2016, 12:18 pm

I am gaming on a budget so I don't always get the latest and greatest stuff so I'll probably buy this title on sale. I haven't brought a full price game since they were $50 instead of $60. I got Grand Theft Auto V for $30ish, I'll spend money on games but rarely more then $50 a purchase. I have more than enough games to catch up on and as time goes on, newer games will probably mean less and less to me. Then I'll end up taking a break from gaming until I get a new computer again. Right now my computer is amazing so thats a ways off. Skyrim still has my interest but I have some side games as well. I really want the new Doom and that might be one I'll buy the first sale but I am not paying more than $30-40 for it.



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07 May 2016, 1:12 pm

Misery wrote:
What's with this naming thing though? I havent heard of that bit. That sounds amusing, I love giving stuff hilarious names. Until I cant think of any, which usually happens after I've named about three things. After that, things get super random names. I will end up with something or other named "Box of Crackers" or something.




Misery
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07 May 2016, 4:42 pm

Okay that's pretty hilarious, yes.