No Man's Sky just came out for the PlayStation 4 but Sean Murray says player experience on the procedurally generated game could "fundamentally change" once the PS4 Neo comes out.
In an interview, Hello Games' managing director explained that remastering a game for the PS4's more powerful brother will up-res textures and other components. In the context of No Man's Sky, that would change the base shape of the universe that contains 18 quintillion planets (18,446,744,073,709,551,616 to be exact), doing away with the game as it is known now.
"For our game, it's procedurally generated, so more powerful hardware doesn't just mean upgraded textures or a higher frame rate. It means we can fundamentally change the experience," said Murray.
Think beyond better details on objects, like more leaves on trees. Think new worlds coming into existence because technology has made it possible for them to be created.
For the most part, No Man's Sky has been performing swimmingly since it came out, but Digital Foundry has warned against moving too fast in the game. A cap of 30 frames per second (fps) is enough for the game to run smoothly and is just right for exploring any terrain on foot — players have started noticing severe frame rate drops once they get on their ships to explore further.
Just simply flying in space or over terrain that has been previously discovered is no big deal, but it's when ships are boosting over undiscovered terrain that the frame rate drops become noticeable. According to Digital Foundry, frame rates drop down to 14 fps, but doubling back to areas that have already been generated fixes the issue.
Hello Games is already aware of the issue, but there is no word when it will be resolved.
PS4 Neo is rumored for a release in September, and set to be officially unveiled at an event in New York City. There aren't many details about the Sept. 7 event, but reports say it will be a technical showcase for Sony's newest console and may have a similar feel to the PS4's own unveiling.
While the PS4 Neo is touted to be a more powerful version of the PS4, it has not been confirmed what the new console's exact specs are. Generally, upgraded CPU, GPU and RAM can be expected.
Sony will be encouraging developers to take advantage of the PS4 Neo's powerful capabilities, but the console will still be able to run PS4 games made for the original machine.
