No Man's Sky is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated and impressive looking videogames set to make landfall this year. Furthermore, scale wise, it looks to be the largest game ever made. It is a free roaming science fiction game that takes place in a procedurally generated universe that would literally take 5+ billion years to explore. Damn near endless possibilities and intergalactic sightseeing will be presented. That's right gamers, No Man's Sky could literally be the death of you and many generations to come… brutal.
So why the hell are we talking about a videogame on The Circle Pit… a music site? Well, sit yer ass down if it's not already and I'll tell you what's up.
This game looks to be making history on a number of levels. Endless possibilities will span beyond the gameplay itself. For example, the SOUNDTRACK will be procedurally generated as well. This means, while playing, you'll never quite hear the same song twice as you delve into an "endless music machine".
How are they doing it? The band 65daysofstatic was tapped by No Man's Sky creators Hello Games with word of this ambitious project. Consequently, the post-rock / electronic four-piece has created a soundtrack that will be molded by audio director Paul Weir and placed into a procedural format that will fit different moods and events throughout the game… but you'll never quite hear the same thing twice.
In a recent interview with VICE, Paul had the following to say,
"Whenever you're in space, or on a planet, or underwater, or in a cave, that physical state will be attached to its own audio state. I want to use the seed values that create the planets to seed the music. We'll know what the biosphere is, what the habitat is, and we'll know how much danger there is. That information is there to use if we want to, and it'll all act as a driver for the ambient music."
"A lot of games feature small elements of randomised music. But I think what we're doing is well above that. I don't think anyone has come out with a fully generative soundtrack that doesn't sound generative. I don't need people to know that it's generative – I really don't care about that. I want a game that sounds totally beautiful, where you're on a planet and what you hear is suitable for that planet. That's all I care about."
If you'd like to learn more about this awe inspiring project, head over to VICE for the full interview or stop by the official No Man's Sky website. We also have goods playing below from both the game and 65daysofstatic. We'll see you on the other side!
No Man's Sky: Facebook // Official Website
65daysofstatic: Facebook // Official Website
