No Man's Sky 'stealing' from Subnautica?
HYBRID1313
Australia Join Date: 2016-04-01 Member: 215179Members Posts: 332 Advanced user

So, earlier today No Man's Sky released their 'Into The Abyss' free content update and my god does it take some heavy 'inspiration' from Subnautica. I urge you to watch the update video, or at least the first minute of it because you'll be surprised about how much influence Subnautica has had:
https://twitter.com/NoMansSky/status/1056907726998118401
and this image:
https://twitter.com/subcide/status/1056936175896805377
So my question is this, are you guys really flattered by all of this, or a little disgruntled? I reckon it's pretty cool and am keen to hear what @Obraxis and other developer team members think about it if they have a moment. Thank for your time!
*edit: clickbait title reformation for dem views
https://twitter.com/NoMansSky/status/1056907726998118401
and this image:
https://twitter.com/subcide/status/1056936175896805377
So my question is this, are you guys really flattered by all of this, or a little disgruntled? I reckon it's pretty cool and am keen to hear what @Obraxis and other developer team members think about it if they have a moment. Thank for your time!

*edit: clickbait title reformation for dem views
Post edited by HYBRID1313 on
Comments
So, I dunno.
Also, the helmet looks more than kinda BioShock.
For those wondering:
No Man's Sky: The Abyss Update
EDIT: Although, the glass corridors actually look a bit more HD... like the exact same thing just upgraded with a photorealism patch or something.
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And things like this,
Is just...really concerning.
Yet I still have no idea what's going on.
Usually a new, innovative, game copies several aspects of other previous games and offer a few new of its own.
I find it great, as long as they don't straight out rip major mechanics or design.
Planet exploration is the major drive behind NMS and, in the early days, there were always mentions about ocean planets and heavy underwater exploration.
Unfortunately Sean Murray turned out to be a blatant liar, and this had a huge impact on the game and company name.
They are trying to glue up the shards by releasing free new content after new content, but they won't recover the community trust anytime soon. Hopefully never.
However, it is nice to see the effort they are putting into trying to amend things. Maybe, after several iterations, the game will hold a semblance of what it was supposed to be.
Also the NMS grind vs Subnautica's lack of a real grind is what sets them apart. Planet 4546B might be just a planet, but it's actually fleshed out instead of a procedurally generated area with grinding in mind.
NSM has that "more of the same vibe" where you're mostly encountering areas/creatures which do look different but are basically all the same. The game is impressive in terms of sheer scale of it's galaxy, but it becomes quite clear it's relatively superficial in terms of being immersed into it's worlds. They definitely do not have something which even comes close to the iconic status of the Peeper, Reaper and Hoverfish etc... A problem most massive procedural generated games have, on a similar level as MMO's. Just another creature doing the same thing with a different skin... A severe lack of character and true diversity. I mean these ocean planets would just be another ball in a space game littered with balls.
Where Subnautica draws the player into it's world through pure immersion (and terror?), triggering responses on an emotional level... NMS tends to do a superficial drive-by.
Guardian of the "magic cookiejar"
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They even got the same style of ship with the helm up above it in an elevated part.
"I'm ashamed, I'm to blame,
Don't wanna think about it,
Who I am, what I've done?
How do I carry on?
Wanna change, turn the page,
Don't wanna think about it,
How do I undo what's done?"
- "Undone" Five Finger Death Punch
================Anom================
*If I can find one, I guess!
Seems more of the same as expected, also their other structure modules are quite similar to Subnautica's style. Seems a bit of a theme going on with space habitats in other games as well.
Guardian of the "magic cookiejar"
Retired forum Admin, I mostly used a flamethrower tank for disputes... Mostly
Retired EUPT Deputy | Moral Support | Squad 5 Blue | 102 1HP Skulk escapes and counting
I'm usually very critical of plagiarism or script reuse, as well as cheap use of tropes even if I have to shit on "popular stuff" for that.
But we are dealing here with with concept far too basic to raise an eyebrow. Subnautica didn't invent underwater base built with corridor, just as it didn't invent the idea of crashing on water planet either.
If there's anything wrong here, it's not any belief there's a copy.
It's that No Man's Sky is so simplistic, homogeneous in content and lacking gameplay by itself that anything that look like actual gameplay is suspicious.
Yep, I think you got that I don't think highly of NMS. Procedural generation of boredom is nothing to be proud of. Call me when the gameplay evolve above "hoarding & craft" all the way to "Terraform planet and build ecosystem" (which will never happen, so I'm not expecting any call)
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\| | | | |||| |
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...
WE ARE BORG.
WE DID NOT STEAL THIS SIGNATURE.
LEAVE OUR SYSTEM IMMEDIATLY OR YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED TO THE BORG COLLECTIVE.
FEEL THE HIVE MIND TAPPING INTO YOUR LOLIPOP.
...
...OH GOD THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME”
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Fallout 4 looked like it was all set for an underwater expansion. But sadly, none.
I've being playing far too much of Sunless Sea, which has a cool underwater expansion, set in a Lovecraftian Steampunk Universe. I now live in hope to see that game remade in 3D by UWE-level talent.
Then there's the whole treasure chest of traditional maritime mythology, including the truly freaky Asian stuff.
The underwater experience in NMS remains largely the same. The sub follows exactly the same mechanics as the land vehicles already available in the game.
The underwater bases are practically the same as land based ones.
Practically everything underwater was already available on land: ships, freighters, bases, ruins. They just put some water on it.
In fact, there are some designs proposed for the SN expansion that feels very much like things that are already implemented in NMS.
NMS is a very beautiful game, only matched by its dullness, and for those who like survival and space games it can be fun for a few dozen hours. However it is extremely shallow and pretty soon you realize that everything in the game is the same, everywhere.
It's the opposite experience from Subnautica in which every minute spent in the game seems to reel you in deeper and deeper into it, until completion. And after it, you comeback over and over again trying to do things differently because even though it is small, everything is interesting.
@Kouji_San summarized it plainly:
I don't think it could be remade in 3D and still keep the same atmosphere. I'd love to see it adapted though, using Subnautica mechanics and looks over the setting they created for it.
Not meaning this example is any big deal, just lame.
They are pretty much the same as the land based ones. There were several glass modules, windows and even a glass dome for farming already implemented in the game.
The underwater modules follow the same interior and exterior designs as the land modules.
NMS has many, terrible, flaws. Why focus on something that's nowhere close to an actual offense.
So basically this is NMS summarized...
Don't get me wrong, it's fun for a while or maybe on/off gaming. However as I said will inevitable turn into more of the same represented in a very repetitive and unimmersive way. You simply do not feel part of the universe presented in the game.
I guess it's like this:
Guardian of the "magic cookiejar"
Retired forum Admin, I mostly used a flamethrower tank for disputes... Mostly
Retired EUPT Deputy | Moral Support | Squad 5 Blue | 102 1HP Skulk escapes and counting
Well now, did we perhaps hit a nerve
Unless of course they will finally give all those static clone like aliens more character and diversity and maybe work their way towards a proper content rich multiplayer in the form of true coop and much more diverse "quests"
Guardian of the "magic cookiejar"
Retired forum Admin, I mostly used a flamethrower tank for disputes... Mostly
Retired EUPT Deputy | Moral Support | Squad 5 Blue | 102 1HP Skulk escapes and counting
The game storyline is laughable at best. The premises are interesting, but it takes too much repetitive grinding for a few comments on the "story".
And the issue wasn't with the stuff he promised and wasn't there. The issue lies in the stuff he claimed was already implemented, when in fact it wasn't.
The effort they are putting into polishing the game is commendable, but it is still far from a good game.
It has a place in very specific niche, one that has relatively few games to compete with it. All of which are better games than NMS.
Crashing, lag problems? Or maybe your old save didn't get the latest update? Upload your saved game folder to help the devs troubleshoot, then try clearing your cache directories | Automatic Cache cleaning tool here | How to use the Debug Console | How to play any version of Subnautica using Steam | Tips for Subnautica beginners | Why can't the devs "just fix it"? - a modding session for you to educate yourself with Want more frames? Try adding this to your launch options: -window-mode exclusive | Solve options not saving or black screens by deleting options file | Possible workaround for Pause / Menu Bug | Rescue a trapped Seamoth / PRAWN
Slow loading / textures popping in? Try moving Subnautica to an SSD | How to switch Subnautica to Experimental mode (clear cache afterwards) | How to run chkdsk on your drive | How to verify integrity of your game cache (in the "Installation" section) | Blue screens or computer freezing up? Try this fix (updates a corrupted DX10 compatibility file in the graphics driver that sometimes doesn't get updated)
Subnautica launches in a tiny window? Use Task Manager to Maximize it (Thanks FlippingPower) | How to place your Moonpool so it connects correctly (includes diagrams) | Want to hang out with fellow players and the devs? Subnautica Discord server ← swing on by! | SuspensionRailway's Modding Emporium ↔ Categorized list of mods, including 1st playthrough-friendly ← Hey, look, mods! → ReShade mods ↔ Subnautica NexusMods
Humans don't crush at the depths you might think
Joystick problems? | Xpadder | UJR / vJoy | JoyToKey | Get detailed info for troubleshooting: CPU-Z | GPU-Z | HWiNFO64 | Speccy | Pastebin | Recover the data on your crashed hard disk! | I'm a Total Geek
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While I certainly hope that's true? It won't stop people from wanting to hate on NMS cause they have nothing better to do except bitch and moan. How do we know this wasn't one of Shawn Murray's ideas that he wanted to implement but of course was on the pile of ideas that didn't make it into NMS until post-release
Can you:
a) stop being foul-mouthed in every post you make and;
b) edit erroneous posts instead of making new ones.
Thanks.