technologyscene photography © Hello Games
No Man’s Sky the Game of a Lifetime? // By dan bain
I’VE INTENTIONALLY STAYED AWAY FROM VIDEO games in this column, instead focusing on gadgetry and, when necessary, its related software. But sometimes something so big comes along, it breaks rules and smashes preconceived notions. Such is the case with No Man’s Sky, the brainchild of Sean Murray, cofounder of Hello Games. A space exploration game, No Man’s Sky is too farreaching to be described as merely “a space exploration game.” Players will explore a fictitious universe so large, no one can possibly visit every planet available. As they do so, they collect resources, upgrade ships and weaponry, and encounter infinite alien life forms – for commerce, diplomacy, or war. One wouldn’t expect infinite possibilities to spring from only 1400 lines of code, but this game is procedurally generated – the environment is created by computer equations, from random numbers. Not to worry, though, because the randomized environments are still rendered in stunning visuals, and the game will proceed realistically. No Man’s Sky was originally built from a 32-bit number processor, but Murray wanted to increase that to 64 bits. The result is a universe filled with planets numbered at two to the 64th power, or more than 18 quintillion unique planets. In other words, a player will start at the edge of 18 | caryliving.com
a galaxy with 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets to visit. If you spent only one second on each of them, it would still take you 5.8 billion years to see them all – longer than the life expectancy of the sun. That’s right – if it were even possible to play this game to its fullest extent, it would last longer than our own solar system. That’s as close to infinite as any game comes. The game is playable offline, but will have online features allowing players to share details of their own experiences, and a galactic map will be available once a player has upgraded their ship with hyperdrive. Murray hopes to release it for PlayStation 4 and PC before the end of this year. Price information and a specific release date were not available at printing, but watch for updates at nomans-sky.com as you anticipate the adventure of a lifetime – that will last a lifetime. L
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