65.) No Man's Sky Amazing Game Dev Journey

       A small and unlikely team was behind one of the most ambitious and anticipated games of 2016. In this 2019 GDC Main Stage session, Hello Games' Sean Murray takes us behind the scenes during the intense and dramatic launch of one the biggest selling new IPs in recent years. Hello Games has been able to maintain and grow a player base for over two and a half years after launch despite initially be received negatively. The game's creator walks us through the nightmare of release, where No Man's Sky stands now, and where it could go next. Back in 2016, No Man’s Sky was such a large game with a procedurally generated deterministic open world universe. I feared the game would be lacking content at launch because of how big and vast it was. I thought to myself, with a game so big, it made sense to also make enemies and creatures procedurally generated. Developers could easily spend years creating content for a game that’s so big. I wanted to wait and see Angry Joe’s review of the game before I decided to purchase the game because I respect and value his opinions. Although Joe can come off as a bit too harsh at times, that is not entirely bad because it just shows how truly passionate Angry Joe is.

       There are so many reasons as to why I never pre-order or purchase games now without at least seeing gameplay and reviews. Depending on the price, often times I’ll take a risk but that’s just me. I bought the game recently now in 2019 for only $10 because I figured I’d give this game a chance. I am very pleased to say I received way more content than I anticipated. Before updating, I played the original version for a couple days to experience the game before the updates.  I started to realize the frustrations players had at launch; however I disagree in saying the game was bad. In my own opinion, No Man’s Sky at launch was not a bad game… it was a highly unfinished game. Prior to the updates, I can't imagine the rage people felt after paying $60 and feeling empty handed with so much missing content. I felt at war with myself because the gamer in me felt players rightfully deserved to be upset but the developer in me loved the game from a technical perspective.

       It felt like an amazing tech demo. I was baffled in awe by the technology and engine behind powering this game. After installing all the free updates, No Man’s Sky felt like a completely different game entirely. I got lost in building bases and there is no limit to how many bases the player can have which is a plus. Racetracks may also be created and shared at a player base. Base building is available to all four game modes currently offered in No Man's Sky. To create a base, simply place a Base Computer (found under "Portable Technology") anywhere and start building.. At launch, No Man’s Sky was just a baby and now it’s all grown up. I was truly amazed how much progress the developers have made considering all the toxicity they endured from media. No Man's Sky is a far better superior game now than it has ever has been since its launch despite the negative reviews. I actually like playing it. I got far more content than I anticipated for just $10.

       I learned some valuable lessons as an aspiring game developer from Sean Murray’s experience and here are just some I’ve noted below. 

1.) Mistakes Are Inevitable When Making Games

       As a game developer, mistakes are inevitable but it’s what you do after your mistake that defines you. Are you going to learn from them or find an excuse? As a developer, its easy to underestimate the challenges and difficulties of making a game. I think it's very noble of them to continue to release these massive upgrades and updates all for FREE. They've more than made up for their shortcomings.

2.) Don’t Be Too Ambitious! (Let Your Game Speak for Itself)

       I don’t think Sean Murray is a liar. I think Sean bought into the hype and that his ambitions got the best of him amidst the outside pressure.  Only talk about features in the game that actually exist and are already implemented. If you are talking about features and content that has yet to be developed and not already in the game you are creating, that’s being overly ambitious. I see so many people still holding grudges against Sean Murray. I think that’s totally unfair. Yes the game at launch disappointed us, yes it was unfinished and that was terrible of them, however they’ve redeemed their selves. They have transformed their setbacks into a major comeback.

3.) Treat All Good & Bad Criticism as Collective Data 

      That was a powerful statement that hit home for me. There were many positives I was able to draw from Sean saying, "Everything is just data". Analyzing the data to even find its root and dissociate useless data ( noise ). Man! Much respect! I don’t often show my current game development work because it’s unfinished and so early in development. Due to this fact, I feared that people would judge my games too soon. This blog helps me to break out of my comfort zone by sharing my work as well as my personal game development journey.

4.) Enjoy the Journey! Don’t Quit
       Success is a journey, not a destination. An important lesson I drew from this is that a game developer should never put his own happiness at stake to make the players happy. Game developers don't owe the players anything, and "owe" is the key word here. Its not uncommon to see game developers at these big companies put their selves through crunch and sacrificing their happiness to work on projects that doesn't benefit the player in the slightest way. Sean's GDC 2019 talk isn't about giving the players a meaningful experience; it's about managing your emotions when you can't feel that what you do is what you love anymore. This talk was a reminder to me that as a game developer, I do what I do because I love it. The thing is, even when you love what you do, it's not always easy, cool and fun when dealing with outside pressure and consumer backlash. Even when you know you love what you do, how do you cope with it when things are at their hardest? I would have loved to see the game LawBreakers; a firs-person-shooter created by Boss Key Productions make an epic comeback. LawBreakers failed to gain a sufficient player base and I was upset I didn't get a chance to play it before the servers had shutdown.

       No Man's Sky is arguably one of the most inspirational game developer stories I've come across and it inspired me to create this post. It takes an enormous strength of character to keep moving forward and improving things instead of just giving up. I have a renewed since of respect towards Sean Murray and his team. Its incredibly hard to continue working on a game after being slated at launch with such negative feedback. That takes resilience. I learned from Sean that to be a successful game developer, you have to be RESILIENT even when all the odds are against you. That takes courage to do, even when you feel like you can no longer continue. No Man’s Sky will go down as an incredible story of failure, backlash and redemption. This guy has earned my respect; he never gave up on the game, not even with all the hate and criticism. While most other big AAA studios would give up, layoff employees and move to another project, Sean stuck to the game until he delivered the game he wanted. Even now amidst the massive job layoffs that have hit the gaming industry, Hello Games continues to add drastic updates and why not? They literally have an open universe as their sandbox at their disposal to add content. There's not a lot of big game companies that can say that. I'm seriously looking forward to playing the game in Virtual Reality.