No Man's Sky's stunning graphics are only one of the reasons why Sci-Fi geeks are hyped up about it.
The developers released a video explaining how visual algorithms expand the game's universe, as one of the core features of the game is its reliance on procedural generation on an epic scale.
What this implies is that when Hello Games artists craft a spiky animal back or an unusual set of leaves, these elements get mashed and combined in whopping combinations throughout the full in-game universe.
The developers explain in the presentation video that the new DNA for plants and creatures does not simply pop up out of the blue, as there are complex algorithms at work to keep things easy to understand and interesting, if not downright pleasing to the eye.
Grant Duncan, the art director of No Man's Sky, explains in the clip that a vast color theory system governs the way in which planets are hued. You may want to watch the amazing video embedded at the end of this article.
"Leaves have complimentary colors compared to the grass," Duncan notes.
The silhouettes that players encounter bow to the same general rules.
"If a planet's very hot, [...] everything becomes a little bit more dried out or you'll get more sharp shapes," Hello Games point out.
If the team behind the game is to be trusted, the more you advance toward the center of the No Man's Sky Universe, both landscapes and creatures morph to become increasingly "unsettling."
For those who have been living under a rock, No Man's Sky is one of the most anticipated games of the last 10 years. It will be an exploration game of gargantuan proportions, in which players hop from planet to planet, not two of which are identical.
The gaming company boasts that the game comprises about 18 quintillion planets, the majority of which are procedurally generated and populated. This implies that the randomly generated world gives you the possibility to visit more planets than you can think of, most of which will be populated with unique alien breeds.
Hello Games anticipates that a titillating sense of discovery and deep human curiosity will push players to explore the algorithmic universe of No Man's Sky. A 15-minute demo that came out earlier this month certainly highlights this point. If that was not enough, the developers are betting that many of the planets will entice powerful emotions in players, basically elevating the game to art status.
