Light No Fire

[toddumptious]

I was thinking about the lead up to this games launch and realised theres only one thing I need Hello Games to do.

Make it very clear what players will be doing in this game before it releases, or to put it another way, make it very clear what they WONT be doing in this game.

That was the problem with NMS release day. A combination of people not understanding current gen tech/limitations and letting their own imaginations of what a go anywhere space game should be, fill the gap.

Lets not have anyone confused with LNF and what will be capable on day one I’m already seeing people lose the run of themselves with procedural AI quest chains that are just as captivating as a hand crafted story a human spent a long time considering… … We are not there yet folks, MADlibs is not story craft, but it is its own form of interactive fun with mates

[AdaRynin]

Welcome: It’s one year since the trailer release and no news other than “we are working on it.” The next game awards are this week (in the middle of the night for Europe) and, of course, we don’t even know whether there will be news or another trailer released.
At least we know Stadler and Waldorf will be invited. Who wants the muppets to interview Sean? That needs to be a thing.

[MacForADay]

I’m guessing we will get another LNF trailer at the game awards but still no release window for the game.

[Crimsontine]

I look forward to LNF…

But honestly, I’m still more excited about NMS.

Once you drop an entire universe, how do you even come close with a multi-biome planet?

Seriuosly…

Everything coming to LNF, I wish for in NMS:

Multi-biome planets, dragons, boats, human face customization, other clothing options, not having to wear an exosuit and a jetpack all the time, not always confined to only using a multi-tool…

And my NMS wishlist will keep growing upon every teaser trailer and ultimately upon everything released at launch.

LNF answered for me what happened to all the yearly anniversary update “planetary overhaul / planet-side / terrain algorithm / universe reset” style updates we had become so accustomed to, (ie. Atlas Rises, Next, Beyond, Origins).

Basically, after Origins, HG focused nearly all their planetary efforts into LNF and instead worked on improving all other aspects of NMS.

Great updates!!!

But what I’ve been hoping for since hearing that LNF announcement, is that maybe, just maybe, they intially started developing LNF as a safe testing ground for various NMS development, but thought:

Why not launch this thing as a stand-alone game and go for a more successful launch?

Since we launch free NMS updates and have no other way to profit except through direct sales, maybe we’ll drop an occasional planet with all this new testing ground tech, and then eventually bring it to our main project NMS after we work out a whole lot of the bugs, quirks and kinks: Once we flesh out LNF for NMS!

Don’t get me wrong, if LNF is what it seems to be, chances are I’ll probably enjoy it. But I just really love NMS so very much, I forget everything else.

[AdaRynin]

Don’t worry, I’m not telling you or anyone to switch to LNF if you are happy staying in NMS.

You may be right, I’m sure they are smart enough to write their own engine so that both games benefit from new features for planets, in the long term.

I am interested whether multiplayer will be noticeably better in LNF. Or whether single player will offer drastically better exploration. We’ll see.

I know that MMOs are very simplified compared to NMS or LNF (no weather, no base building, no free roaming) but the main thing that they get right is providing a consistent shared background experience for friends playing together.

(In NMS, someone was always frustrated: why are you building a base intersecting my village? Why do you claim it’s nice to build on this ugly life-support draining planet? Why did you build the door half under/above ground level?.. And to the others, the justifiable frustration looked like grouching because they couldn’t see a problem, they saw nice weather and a well aligned base. )

[sheralmyst]

Except most of us here believe it is the other way around @Crimsontine . NMS has become the test bed for LNF. It only makes sense that HG would want to push their creation to the next level by taking what they have done in NMS and pushing it to the next level.
But I am with @AdaRynin on this one. Right now, base building can be a mess when people on another server sweep thru and remnants of bases in that other ‘itiration’ begin to manifest themselves, sometimes overlapping other bases
This happened recently as @toddumptious visited the old ETARC starchain. However, the other base that showed up inside of mine, has now vanished back to where it came from. Very interesting.
So my big question is how do they avoid that in LNF? Especially since the whole game is on one planet. I now think maybe they have worked it out.

[Crimsontine]

@sheralmyst

Except most of us here believe it is the other way around @Crimsontine . NMS has become the test bed for LNF. It only makes sense that HG would want to push their creation to the next level by taking what they have done in NMS and pushing it to the next level.

It’s both ways around.

STEP 1:

No Man’s Sky

LNF (the game in development) barrows tech from (the preexisting game) NMS…

As clearly demonstrated in the LNF trailer.

STEP 2:

Light No Fire

NMS (the preexisting game) then barrows tech from (the game in development) LNF…

As clearly demonstrated in ‘Worlds - Part 1’.

So…

• NMS is the test bed for LNF.
• LNF is the test bed for NMS.

Both games influence each other.

But it started with NMS, which led to LNF, and continues with NMS, but now with LNF, and like a bowl of gelatine, it continues back and forth…

On a financial level…
On a creative level…

It only makes sense that HG would want to push BOTH of their creations to the next level by taking what they have done in NMS and LNF and pushing BOTH GAMES to the next level.

[toddumptious]

Step 3: Collect Underpants

Step 5: ??

Step 6: Profit

[AdaRynin]

Sean was seen at the Game Awards, but neither NMS nor LNF news.

I made a fake bingo card (with successful fields like, “Statler&Walforf condemn preorders”), but we didn’t have enough ideas to fill 5x5 fields so I… filled half the fields with “No LNF news” and… let’s just say everybody won

[Clemm]

I think Hello Games wants the large planet to let players be spread out more.

We might see multiple variations of a climate type within a climate area. The trailer gives a very brief glimpse of variety in at least looks.

I lust for another trailer even if the game would not launch till 2026.

[kliktrak]

Light No Fire

[jedidia]

What is truly amazing though is seeing the hollow knight up there…

[Jupiter.blues]

Now SM is really feeling the pressure to make LNF “top 5” worthy.

New theory about development:
Im starting to think that LNF may be delayed further out though. I hope im wrong, but based on the only trailer we have, and how the new water system and planet tech in NMS just came out, its making me think that LNF has quite a ways to go still before full release. Im now expecting to see a new LNF trailer that shows the game looking very different from the first trailer… but im not expecting the game to release for another 1-2 years atleast.

Again, I hope im wrong.

[toddumptious]

I’ve had it in my head as 3-5 just so I don’t give my self false hope by thinking they waited closer to final build before announcing compared to NMS.

I could even see them announce a steam early access program for the final hurdles, it’s nearly the done thing for small studios with a small or non existent QA department in the modern climate and has gone down tremendously well for studios who do it right and have come to it from an honest place (Hades/baldurs gate are prime examples, though baldurs gate is an example of a larger Indie studio doing it successfully and altruistically)

I hold supergiant games and hello games in the same tier of developer mindset, genuinely doing it for the love of the medium, I might even say I love supergiant more than hello though I am disappointed they have gone with their first sequel, I enjoy how fresh and vivid the worlds they build are. But I get why they went for a sequel, Hades was HUGE, dwarves the sales of all their other IP combined, if they capitalise on it they’re free to do whatever they want for the next few years and then some.

Hello Games seem to be making huge steps and preparing themselves to becoming something more sustainable with many avenues of income. They seem to have cracked the code of maintaining support for a game for free for years and are now broadening that steady flow out to publish like-minded studios who are in the trenches with them while preparing to release one of the most hotly anticipated large scale fantasy RPGs in history.

It seems rather than grow the development studio to a size where everything becomes impersonal like with other AAA studios, the plan is to develop more departments that can grow separate of eachother but work in tandem, small tribes rather than one large community. That’s my theory on their approach anyway.

They also seem to foster an ecosystem of growth and if someone feels they’ve outgrown the studio they tend to go on and do great things with what they’ve learned elsewhere.

There’s a good HG alumni feed on Bluesky. Innes McKendrickhas left the industry and is back in college exploring their Scottish Gaelic routes for example, fascinating feed to follow.

[sheralmyst]

People on X are begging for LNF info…

[AdaRynin]

If you see anything interesting on “X” feel free to share it here to non-logged in people.

There’s a small LNF Discord where a handful of people have been posting every day for over a year, counting the days of silence. Every day some of them post fire emojis, and the others post fire extinguishers. (Followed by conversations about other games and things.) A conjuring ritual

I have tons of other games to play (and a new PC to build), I would not have the energy or time for daily counts, but they’re having fun.

What’s your opinion on date speculations? I don’t see much of it here. But on other forums/discords, it seems to be a thing to come in and state “LNF will release in (this year)” or “on (that date)” even. If someone asks why, it’s either “a feeling” or linearly projected from the averages of other release dates (which makes me think those are school kids applying “Double rule of three” or what’s it in English?)
I understand saying “I hope/wish it comes out this year,” I even understand that some people enjoy betting on dates.
But making a statement about something you have no info about sounds absurd to me? It’s like walking up to a stranger and saying “The garage will install La Cucaracha horns in your car tomorrow, I can feel it.”

[jedidia]

@AdaRynin

It’s like walking up to a stranger and saying “The garage will install La Cucaracha horns in your car tomorrow, I can feel it.”

That’s oddly specific…

[Polyphemus]

@AdaRynin

The garage will install La Cucaracha horns in your car

Not in this country, they won’t. Back in the 1970s, every petrol head 17 year old had Maserati air horns - they either played La Cucaracha or Colonel Bogey - and they were incredibly annoying. So we banned them.

It’s surprising what a deterrent having your car crushed can be.

[Clemm]

We of course have no clue about the state of Light No Fire development, but I am ruminating a few considerations.

• HG won’t likely overshadow NMS by releasing LNF close to a NMS update or expedition.
• Skipping the annual NMS anniversary update is unlikely.
• Release of LNF between NMS updates is likely.

Beyond that, I’m just awaiting a new trailer. While I’d like one now, HG may decide to wait till the expected release date draws near.