tysim: If you want my honest opinion, adding the gravity variables was probably too hard for them. For example, what happens if the gravity is too strong for you to move? or what if it is too light so that a single boost can send you into space? They intentionally made every planet the exact same size and same variables just to make it easier to run the algorythyms. Just my opinion.....

chaosWyrM: so, yeah...i like no mans sky, its not perfect, and i can easily see why someone might not like it at all. but its exactly what i thought it was going to be (mostly because im not crazy and i dont listen to "promises" game devs make), and im quite happy with it.

of all the cool sci-fi space exploration it gives...theres one thing that really irks me...and im sure its something not many people even think about.

every single one of the 18 quintillion planets and moons has the exact same gravity. WHY?????? its insane.

according to sean murray:

"There are rules, and wherever we have a situation where we're like 'this is how science works, and this is how gameplay works', gameplay always wins," says Murray. "So, for instance, we say that you have a suit, and that means that gravity is kind of nullified. It's super weird to have a game where, every planet you land on, you walk at a different speed, you run at a different speed and you jump at a different speed."

no sean...whats supper weird is that gravity has absolutely no effect at all in a space exploration game. i mean would it have been that difficult to have a small jump height variable? something??? a teeny tiny jump height variable...or teeny itsy bitsy run speed variables? it would have been so easy to implement...it would change game play hardly at all, but WOULD have provided an enormous boost in the variety department...the one thing people complain about most with this game.

its a huge missed opportunity that i hope makes it in with a patch...or at least some clever modders make it happen.

Socratatus: Not sure if it`s a good idea to call people `crazy` for complaining then to make a complaint of your own about the game.
Anyway, I can`t see why some kind of system couldn`t have been used to slow you down a little. Also, another idea would`ve been to add utilities that would allow the Player to move faster on heavy gravity planets- Like a sort of heavy servo-assisted exo-skeleton add-on.

Also sensor reading before landing on a planet warning Users of high gravity planets could warn Players to stay away unless they had the required utility.

With a will they could`ve done it. I certainly would`ve liked it, even if I was forced to move slowly. And imagine the fun on light gravity planets? Leaping and jumping for miles, maybe even into the upper atmosphere, straining your suit.

chaosWyrM: i didnt call anyone crazy. what i said was im not crazy. i cant help what you infer by my words. its also not a "complaint", its an observation about something i personally perceive as an oversight in design. i even went so far as to acknowledge that most people probably dont care at all about it.

tysim: [...]If you want my honest opinion, adding the gravity variables was probably too hard for them. For example, what happens if the gravity is too strong for you to move? or what if it is too light so that a single boost can send you into space? They intentionally made every planet the exact same size and same variables just to make it easier to run the algorythyms. Just my opinion.....

Socratatus: It can`t be avoided that that is what you inferred. Do I have to take you though what you said step by step?

chaosWyrM: by definition i didnt infer anything, you did (the word you are looking for is imply, which i still didnt do), and you dont have to do anything. you are free to do what you like though. the fact remains that i didnt call anyone crazy, and im not responsible for how you infer things.

nipsen: ...from a sort of design perspective, you could always say that the gravity should extend to small details often enough that it seems gravity is different. And then you just throw away the aspects of it that affects gameplay (so you don't get stuck running away at 1m per minute from a sentinel that flies just fine no matter what, etc.). That you run at the same pace because of the exosuit, and maybe the jump-jets are different, for example.

That'd be the easy way to do it.

But narratively, you sort of run into that if gravity was very low, you should have more wiry plants, maybe canopies up to the clouds, very different weather. Animals might act in a completely different way, jump at you from the other end of the canyon. Could you be able to somehow space creatures that lunge at you and miss. Can you jump off with the jump-jet? I'd think that would be hilarious, and just roll with it, but if you have a "serious" attitude towards this, it sort of exposes problems with the game very fast.

And on high gravity planets, you would have very very slow-moving slugs, oozes with very small weight, crawling worms swimming in sand, things like that. Perhaps gigantic but almost hollow filamented bug-legs. Things like that might make sense.

So if you haven't created any of that, adding gravity is probably not all that satisfying.

But I would go for something like small differences in gravity, and a couple of tells on the plants, size of the creatures, and things like that. Or, you could remove creatures from most of the planets that have high gravity and low rotation, for example. And end up with some sort of consistency from that. With more dead planet variety, some very nasty and tough plants. Only flying whales on the other end. And fewer but maybe more interesting planets with more reasonable creatures.

I think that would make sense. But just adding gravity so you notice it as a player really is a gameplay problem. Imagine tweaking sentinels so they would float and walk slower, for example. Would make sense, but how fun would it be? Should you reduce your running speed to compensate, effectively increasing the time you spend betwen waypoints? Most likely you would skip the high gravity planets to avoid death by boredom.

tysim: remember we are talking about 18 quintillion planets. They would have to add variables associated with each one, potentially, in order to get the generation.
Take a look at the code behind space engine, and you will see why adding gravity and other factors that they mentioned was probably not feasible.

Example of a procedurally generated planet.
Assign random seed
Generate terrain
Generate life abundance
Generate life
Generate flora abundance
Generate flora
Generate resource abundance
Generate resources
Generate way point abundance
Generate way points...

etc..etc..etc..

Now, if you add gravity, then, to make things realistic, the life has to accomodate the gravity. Can birds be made that fly in high gravity? Can a two legged creature walk in high gravity etc....

And then the issue with the floating rocks, plant life etc....

It is not as easy as adding a single variable.

Again, check out space engine to learn about a procedurally generated universe....

Having said all that, it would have been nice, also nice to have different sized planets and such....