As a space exploration game, No Man's Sky is unique. Its universe is made using procedural generation technology that allowed Hello Games to create about a gazillion planets, which at one point made people complain.
Exploring The Procedural Generation Technology Of No Man's Sky
On a more in-depth analysis, Greg Waste, founder and lead programmer of the 3DGameDevBlog, explored the procedural generation technology of No Man's Sky. The blog report summed up the game's inner workings in detail that would seem very interesting to gamers and developers. With Waste's probe, he looked into the geometry, textures and animations present in the game.
Waste praised the mechanics of No Man's Sky from a technical point of view as a "real GEM." But despite its being fantastic, Waste concluded "that the developers were rushed to release" No Man's Sky. His point? The game is not even close to being finished and it does not even have the full capacity that a game made with a procedural technology should have. Instead of a real game, No Man's Sky looked no better than a tech demo.
There Is Still Hope For No Man's Sky
When it comes to providing in-depth analysis of games and how they are developed, Greg Waste is an authority. His page has a listing of several "scientific projects" and he has an archive of exporters and explorers for a number of games like NBA 2K, FIFA and Shadow of Mordor to name a few. More than that, he happens to be the creator of the No Man's Sky model viewer.
In the end, Waste made interesting conclusions and extended his hope that Hello Games would deliver what it should sooner or later. During its early release, No Man's Sky has been very controversial due to false advertisements that earned the game a negative reputation among gamers. But if Waste's recommendations are to be followed, Hello Games still have hope for No Man's Sky by making its content even more diverse and richer than it is now with plenty of updates.
