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00:12We always kind of say we shouldn't
00:14have a story but we should have a lore.
00:16There is a consistent
00:18narrative. The
00:19things that you see there are there for a reason.
00:22If there are buildings they're there because
00:23a certain race built them.
00:25And they look like that race has built
00:28them. And if you talk to
00:30aliens in the game you'll get
00:31little touches of that. If you
00:34read some text on a
00:35monolith you'll get, you know, it will be
00:37consistent with that. And that's
00:39lore to me, that's world building.
00:47I used to
00:47love space opera. I love
00:49the grand scale stuff. I love
00:51the kind of stuff that Larry Niven would do
00:53or people like Robert Heinlein.
00:56Well the thing is
00:57with No Man's Sky it's such a kind of
00:59comprehensive universe. I mean
01:01I guess almost by definition a universe has
01:03to be comprehensive. But it's got
01:05such scope that in our early
01:07discussions we came to the
01:09conclusion that you could set all kinds of
01:11stories within that universe.
01:13You could write virtually any kind of
01:15science fiction, exploration,
01:17battle, trading, love
01:19story, anything you wanted.
01:29Much as I'm thrilled to go and see
01:31a new game and to get the
01:33inside scoop on it, because I
01:35am a fan, you know, to think I'm seeing
01:37something that other people haven't seen
01:38that I've got inside knowledge. They seem
01:41to be equally thrilled to meet
01:43me because I'd done a lot of things that
01:45they'd like. Watchmen obviously
01:47one of the pre-eminent things there.
01:49I floated the idea of
01:51you know maybe we could do a comic or
01:53a graphic novel or something and
01:54they seemed to think that was
01:56a really good idea. First of all we
01:58explored doing it as a stand alone
02:00item, but then we thought it would be
02:02a really good way just to get our feet wet
02:04to do something that could be included
02:06with the game that would add value to that.
02:15I've always had a soft spot for old games
02:18when you used to buy them and they
02:20would come with like a booklet. I
02:21liked the idea of that for No Man's Sky
02:24of giving people a little bit of
02:26the flavour of the universe and kind of
02:29help build out the world a little bit.
02:33I chose to tell a story that was a
02:36kind of small adventure about a
02:38trader with a very valuable cargo
02:40and what becomes of the cargo
02:42because that trading aspect was one
02:44part of the game. So it's a lot of
02:46flying about in spaceships and a bit
02:48of humour I think and it's worked
02:50really well because in this booklet
02:52that's going to be with the game, James
02:54Swallow who wrote a text story
02:56wrote a more visceral, internal, very
03:00gripping and engaging story of one
03:02particular character.
03:05I connect very strongly with visual
03:07imagery and I think the look of No
03:09Man's Sky was the thing that really
03:11sort of struck me when I saw it the
03:12first time because it had that look
03:14like all of my favourite pulp sci-fi
03:16covers come to life and immediately
03:18when I saw that very first trailer I
03:20thought I've got to play this I want
03:22to go to this place I want to wander
03:24around there and you know and see a
03:26little of it and it was just it was
03:27inspiring.
03:30It's been great to have Dave doing
03:32these illustrations to sort of you
03:34know bookend my story. We've done
03:35something in a way that's kind of
03:37similar to the old pulp sci-fi
03:39magazines like you know Galaxy
03:40magazine and Astounding Stories
03:41and all those kind of things.
03:42Whether you'd have a text story and
03:44you'd have these kind of great
03:45black and white illustrations and
03:47having those two things married
03:48together I think again it's all of
03:50this stuff is reaching back to the
03:51to the to the law and the sense of
03:53the world that this science fiction
03:55has come from and it's it's fun to
03:57explore that. So what I've done is
04:00it's a survival story it's about a
04:01character who's shipwrecked on the
04:02planet with some unpleasant alien
04:05species chasing after them and we've
04:07got the sentinels that you've seen in
04:08the game as well and it's all about
04:10this character just basically trying to
04:11fix their ship and get off the
04:12planet but it's very much done from
04:14an internal viewpoint made it very
04:15personal and I felt like I was trying
04:17to explore that world and explore that
04:19sort of texture.
04:24What's been really fun with James
04:28and with Dave is actually just
04:29showing them the game especially
04:30like people who have such a love of
04:34sci-fi and such a background in it
04:36but also what's happened is them
04:39working on the fiction and which is
04:42just kind of set in our universe
04:44actually lots of the questions that
04:46they ask you suddenly think well we
04:48we either don't know that for sure or
04:51we haven't like locked it down or
04:53right we need to lock this down like
04:54how does this work how does you know
04:56and it's it's crazy things it's like
04:58how does the landing gear of a ship
04:59work and suddenly James Swallow will
05:01ask you that I haven't thought about
05:03that you know but I should.
05:07I'm not sure even I know the whole
05:09story yet but I do like the idea of
05:12adventures happening in the universe
05:14that has a history you know that
05:16you're not really the first people
05:17ever flew around this universe so I
05:20like that idea of trying to piece
05:22together a mystery as well you know
05:23not only to physically explore but
05:25intellectually to piece together a
05:27mystery.
05:32I think there's definitely a huge
05:35breadth of stories to tell in No Man's
05:37Sky it is a systemic game because it
05:39is about you interacting with the
05:41environment and the characters and
05:42there's no sort of hardcore narrative
05:45that says you must do this you must do
05:46this and you must do this.
05:48What's unique about that is this is
05:50something that games can do that no
05:51other sort of form of storytelling can
05:53is you as a player can come in and you
05:54can build your own narrative and you
05:56might play that game for you know
05:58months or years who knows how long but
06:00at the end of your play of No Man's
06:02Sky you will have told a story that
06:04will be unique to you and that I think
06:07that that is that is incredible.
06:21PS4 for the players.
